


Kaede's Academically Required School Spirit

by Kamikaze2007



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Characters are underage at the start but they don't do anything sexual yet, Cheerleader AU, Crime Scenes, Dead People, Explicit Language, F/F, M/M, Main characters who are too gay to function, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:14:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29160234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamikaze2007/pseuds/Kamikaze2007
Summary: Kaede's been avoiding her sports credits for her entire school life, but now that her senior year is upon her, she has no choice but to go out for an extracurricular sport. In an unprecedented move of poor judgement, the aspiring pianist goes out for cheerleading. Just how bad of an idea is that, and how stupid is she going to feel for signing up for arguably the most dangerous sport? But hey, at least the other girls are cute...
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Harukawa Maki, Momota Kaito/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	1. The Summer of Our Sports Content

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been writing this since May, and since the ending is finally in sight, Maki's birthday just feels like the perfect opportunity to finally bite the bullet and start sharing this with the world!

“Miss Akamatsu, I assume you know why I called you to my office.”

Kaede, sitting directly in front of her academic adviser’s fancy desk, leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Well, I can’t say I do, but I could probably guess,” she said, looking around the various motivational posters and lesson plans hung up on the walls. “Is it because I signed up for too many music classes again?”

The woman behind the desk sighed. “Yes and no. Kaede, I’ve talked to you about this at the end of every year, but now that you’re going into your senior year, I’m afraid I’ll have to put my foot down.” She typed at her computer for a moment, ending with a loud tap of the enter key. “So unfortunately, I can’t allow you to take any music classes next year.”

Kaede’s attention snapped back to her adviser’s stern face. “What? Why?”

“Every single one of your classes next year is a credit you require to graduate,” she explained. “I understand you love music more than anything, and you could probably teach literally any music class better than, well, anybody in this building, but your three years of dedicating all possible time slots to music classes is catching up to you. If I even let one elective credit through, you won’t be able to graduate on time.”

Each word took the wind further out of Kaede’s sails until the end, leaving her feeling defeated. She sighed and leaned forward in her chair. “Oh...right.”

The woman behind the desk bit her lip, her expression softening. “I was lenient in the past because I know music is what makes you happy, but I want to see you graduate with your friends. In the future, you must focus better on planning for your future while keeping what you _need_ to do in balance with what you _want_ to do. Understand?”

“I got it, Mrs. Sato,” Kaede said. “I’ll just have to find my own fun with music next year. It’s not like I don’t have internet access or something.” She had put on a fake smile to look less let down than she was, but with each word she spoke, she was actually convincing herself that this situation wasn’t so bad.

She was met with a laugh and another smile. “You’re right. I’m glad you understand. Well, I’ll see you next year?”

“Absolutely!” Kaede stood from her chair and bowed at her adviser. “Thank you so much.”

She turned and strode toward the door, but as soon as her hand touched the doorknob, she heard an error noise from the computer on the desk and her adviser muttering, “What the hell?”  
“Is something the matter?” she asked, turning to face the woman who was growing increasingly pale.

“Uh oh,” Mrs. Sato said. “Kaede, come back. We’ve run into an issue.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Kaede scurried to the chair and sat herself back down.

The woman sighed again. “Well, now I feel bad for telling you to plan things out better. I completely forgot about that.”

“What is it?” Now Kaede was getting anxious, palms growing sweaty and fingers nervously tapping her knees as though pantomiming playing her favorite melody would calm her.

It didn’t.

Especially when Mrs. Sato said, “even with all these required credits, you won’t be able to graduate on time next year.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Kaede, I’m so sorry. I forgot you need your physical education credit.”

Kaede’s face fell, her fingers stopped dead in her tracks, and the color drained from her face. The hulking monster that had been looming over her for her entire high school career was now impossible to ignore. “Physical...education? Are you saying I’m going to get held back for a single credit?”

Mrs. Sato shook her head. “Technically, it’s two credits—one for each semester, but actually, not all hope is lost. The bright side is that you don’t _have_ to take a PE class, but the down side is your alternate course of action would be to sign up for a sport.”

“A sport?” Kaede demanded, slapping her hand on the arm of the chair. “That’s even worse! You do know why I’ve put off doing PE all these years, right?”

The woman laughed. “Yeah, I can guess. You’re not in bad shape, so I can assume it’s to protect your hands from any potential injuries.”

Kaede giggled and put her hand over her stomach. Yeah, she wasn’t exactly fat, but she had enough of a pudgy belly that she wouldn’t have considered herself skinny either. “You got it in one,” she said. “I have such a promising future as a pianist! I’d hate to hurt my hand in the last year before I can truly pursue that.”

Mrs. Sato nodded slowly. “I understand.” She opened a drawer in her desk and rummaged through it before producing several fliers for the different sports the school offered. “Unfortunately, I can’t get you out of this, but I can offer several suggestions for you.” She pointed at the three fliers immediately in front of her. “As far as our women’s divisions go, we offer volleyball, basketball, softball, and soccer. Obviously, I think you’d want to do soccer, since it’s mostly using your feet.”

Kaede sighed, looking over the papers depicting her classmates playing various sports. She’d have been lying if she said their sweaty, focused faces and light clothing weren’t distracting her just a tad though. Then—hold on. “Wait, what’s this one?” Kaede asked, reaching for the desk and moving the volleyball flier to the side.

“Oh, that would be cheerleading.” Mrs. Sato said, glancing at the pictures of one of Kaede’s upperclassmen standing proudly on a soccer pitch in a tiny skirt and pompoms in hand. “I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“It counts as a physical education credit, too?” Kaede asked.

“Well, yes, but it is very intensive on your arms and hands. You do run the risk of injuring yourself in that one. Almost more than the other sports, I’d say.”

“I see,” Kaede said, putting a finger to her chin and leaning back in her chair.

“You don’t have to decide right now, don’t worry,” Mrs. Sato assured her. “Sign ups will be first thing next year. Just don’t forget, or else you’ll be out of luck.”

“Right. Thanks!” Kaede stood up and saw herself out of the office for real this time to let the next person come in to discuss their academic future.

The weekend came and brought the end of the school year with it. That meant that, as was her tradition for most of her life, Kaede was going to the nearby park. When she was a kid, she would celebrate the end of a school year by going to the playground with her sister, but as she grew older and her life changed, she would instead make the trip with her childhood friend Shuichi, and they would skip the stuff meant for kids to instead sit by the nearby lake, watching the calm waters while reflecting on the past year.

“You doing okay, Kaede?” Shuichi asked, noticing the pensive expression she was wearing.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kaede said with a sigh. She sat down near the edge of the water, picking up a small rock and tossing it out to the water. The duo was silent until the ripples from the splash reached their feet. Shuichi took a seat next to her and hummed in thought. “There’s no use in making you guess, is there?” Kaede asked with a weak laugh.

“Of course not,” Shuichi said. “But I won’t make you say it if you don’t want to.”

“This year marks ten years since my sister died.” Kaede said it bluntly, trying to get the words out of her mouth as fast as possible.

Shuichi nodded, eyes glazing over. “Sure is.”

“I miss her,” Kaede said in a small voice.

“I know.”

The tears had started, so now they weren’t going to stop. “I’m sorry. I promise someday I’ll go a year without crying to you about someone you never even met.”

Shuichi shook his head and put a hand on Kaede’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it. She’s kind of the reason we even met in the first place, so the least I can do is listen.”

Kaede nodded. “You’re right. God, do you think we thank your uncle enough for solving that for us?”

Shuichi laughed. He hadn’t always been so open with his emotions around Kaede, but as they grew older, she felt privileged to be one of the few people who could hear his genuine laughter. “He actually talks to me about that sometimes. Every year when your family sends him flowers as thanks, he puts half of them on Minako’s grave. So I don’t think he minds all too much.” Kaede couldn’t help but let out a sob, which caused Shuichi’s eyes to widen. “Oh my god, I’m sorry, was that the wrong thing to say? I’m so sorry, Kaede.”

“No, it’s okay,” Kaede said through the tears. “That’s so sweet of him.”

Shuichi smiled, taking a rock and skipping it across the water. “So let’s change the subject to get your mind off of things,” he said, watching the rock land near the center of the lake. “I’m deadly curious about what you talked to Mrs. Sato about on Tuesday.”

“Oh, that...” Kaede appreciated that Shuichi was trying to distract her from dwelling on her sister’s nearly decade old murder, but the change of subject was hardly any better. “I, uh, have to do sports next year.”

“You what?”

Kaede traced her finger over the stones beneath her hand. “I, er, didn’t take any physical education credits. Ever. So now my schedule’s so full next year that I absolutely have to go out for sports.”

“Oh shit,” Shuichi gasped. “So what are you gonna do?”

Kaede sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms over them. “I’m not sure. My choices are cheerleading, soccer, volleyball, uh...cheerleading, and I think softball?”

“You said cheerleading twice,” Shuichi said quickly. “And that’s an option? Man, I nearly forgot we had a squad.”

“I did?” Kaede let out a soft laugh. “I guess the poster of the girl in the miniskirt really distracted me.”

Shuichi joined her in laughter. “God, you’re hopeless.”

“I don’t mean to be!” Kaede said, voice taking on a higher pitch. “I just get...distracted by pretty girls.”

“Can’t relate.”

The two shared some laughter and banter, finally lifting Kaede’s spirits. “Okay, but seriously,” Shuichi said once he got another jab or two out of his system. “That aside, you should probably try soccer, yeah? It would be the safest for your hands.”

“I guess,” Kaede said with a shrug, stretching her legs so she was sitting normally again. “I just don’t care about soccer.”

“We don’t care about most sports,” Shuichi reminded her. “All you have to do is survive it. You don’t even have to do particularly well, so what does it matter how you feel about it?”

“Because if I’m gonna suffer through a sport for a whole school year, I’d rather it be one I can bring myself to enjoy to some capacity,” Kaede explained.

Shuichi nodded, stroking his chin. “I see. Okay, I have an idea, then.”

“Yeah?”

Shuichi turned to Kaede with the look she grew to dread as his idea face. “Why don’t we try some sports this summer so you can go into the school year knowing what you wanna do?”

Kaede seemed stunned. “Us. Try some sports.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard,” Shuichi said. “We just have to try, what, four sports? Volleyball, soccer, softball, basketball...”

“Where would we get all those balls?” Kaede said, quickly putting up a finger to stop whatever Shuichi was about to say. “No smart remarks, mister.”

Shuichi stifled a laugh. “Well, that shouldn’t be too hard. We can go to batting cages for baseball, the beach for volleyball, and then...I’m sure we have friends who own soccer balls and basketballs.”

Kaede sighed. “I guess. But getting that is all on you, okay?”

Shuichi nodded sternly. “Right. Leave it to me to get some balls.”

“You said it, not me,” Kaede said with a laugh.

Shuichi’s face heated up and he shook his head. “Hey, you said no smart remarks!”

And so, Kaede’s summer got off to a rather different start than she was anticipating. Rather than doing small-time concerts or honing her skills, she was going to be traveling the city with her best friend to try several different sports and see how she felt about them.

The first stop came a week into break and found the kids at the batting cages. However, it only took a few minutes for Kaede to make her decision. After a few swings and misses, she finally hit the ball, after which she dropped everything to step out as quick as possible. “Nope, can’t do it,” she said, shaking her hands like they were wet. “I could feel the vibration of the bat hitting the ball in my wrists, and I can’t do it.”

Shuichi shrugged. “I don’t know, just doing it for a school year wouldn’t have long term effects, I don’t think.”

Kaede stomped her foot indignantly. “Well, no, but imagine if the ball hits my hand or something! Sorry Shuichi, I think softball’s a bust.”

“Would you like to swing some more?”

“No!”

Several minor complaints about having paid for her to only hit the ball once later, the two found themselves back at Kaede’s house, Shuichi lounging on her bed while she tapped at her desk absentmindedly. “What’s next on your list, Shuichi?” She asked, mentally playing Beethoven on the dark wood.

“Volleyball,” Shuichi said. “My uncle has some extras lying around and the beach isn’t too far away. We can make a day out of it.”

“Did you say a date?” Kaede asked, snapping back to reality.

“Day,” Shuichi said. “I know we made a pact to get married for the tax benefits if we’re both still single at thirty, but let’s not rush into that, huh?”

A week later, Kaede and Shuichi donned their swimsuits and took to the beach, volleyball in hand. They found a couple of extra strangers to play with, and even the socially anxious Shuichi had to admit he had fun with it.

“Thanks for playing with us,” Shuichi called once everything was said and done.

“And thanks for being patient that we didn’t know how to play,” Kaede added.

The strangely dressed girl shook her head and put her arms on her hips proudly. “Don’t mention it! To be completely honest, Ibuki doesn’t know how to play either, so she made it up as she went along!”

The nervous looking girl next to her bowed her head. “She’s right, and I only know how to play it from watching them play at the Olympics, so it was a learning experience for all of us.”

“Catch you later, hobos!” Ibuki shouted as she bounded off, leaving her companion doe-eyed and shaking.

“I-Ibuki! You can’t call people that! Come back!”

Not content to call their day over quite yet, Shuichi and Kaede bought some snacks and sat near the sand’s edge, looking out onto the ocean. “They were nice,” Kaede said. “Ibuki and, uh...”

“Mikan,” Shuichi said. “I understand, it’s hard to remember when Ibuki was the one who kept saying her own name.”

Kaede chuckled. “Right. She reminds me of how you are around new people.”

“Thanks.” Shuichi rolled his eyes and quickly changed the subject. “So what did you think?”

“Volleyball seems...” Kaede let out a groan. “Complicated.”

“Right.”

Kaede brought her giant pretzel to her mouth and bit on it, staring at her free hand while she chewed. “I don’t think that would be _too_ hard on my hands, but it just doesn’t feel...fun.”

“Well, there’s still two more sports we have to try,” Shuichi said. “Don’t give up yet.”

“Basketball and soccer,” Kaede said. “I have a feeling we can just skip basketball.”

Shuichi’s expression hardened. “Hey, I spent my uncle’s hard-earned money on a brand new basketball, we’re going to try it.”

Kaede barked a laugh, nearly doubling over and dropping her pretzel. “Fine, fine, we’ll try it. Tomorrow?”

Shuichi looked like he was deflating. “No, I’m so worn out from today.”

“Fine. Next week.”

“I think I can do that.”

When Kaede got home that day, face red from the sun beating down on it and a jacket around her otherwise half-covered top half, she paused by a door in between the front door and her own room. She looked at the colorful wooden letters nailed to the door and breathed a heavy sigh. She placed her hand on the painting of an apple tree on the door and let her fingers trace the wood. “What are you thinking right now, Minako?” She asked. After about a minute of waiting for a response, she let her hand fall to her side and continued to her room, eyes welling up. Kaede speaking to her sister’s bedroom door like she was expecting to hear something back wasn’t a strange occurrence, but something about that day felt like a response was needed.

At least, more than usual.

“God, I don’t get it,” Kaede mumbled to herself the next week as she recounted the tale to Shuichi. “It’s just one credit, why’s this so hard?”

“Two credits, technically,” Shuichi said, fingers drumming the basketball and eyes focusing on the group of rowdy teenage boys currently occupying the court. “But don’t worry, we’ll figure it out together.”

“I just wish she was here to help,” Kaede whined. “Though, if she would have become anything like me, she would have enabled me to join the hot cheerleaders.”

Shuichi cracked a smile. “You’re really still considering that, aren’t you?”

“Well, maybe...”

Shuichi shook his head, gaze not leaving the boys playing the game. “We’ll call that plan...er, H? J. Plan J. Z, maybe.”

Kaede rolled her eyes. “Go back to watching your sweaty boys.”

“Way ahead of you.”

Finally, the basketball court cleared out and it was time to take Kaede in. She was actually pretty good at dribbling; at least, she figured she was based on how easy the motion came to her. “This actually seems like it requires some decent finger dexterity,” she said.

“Let’s see how well that dexterity comes in when you shoot,” Shuichi said, jerking his head in the direction of the basket. “Go for it.”

The moment the basketball left her hands, Kaede knew it wasn’t meant to be. The ball soared so far in the wrong direction that Shuichi took some convincing to believe it wasn’t flubbed on purpose.

“Well, that was a bust,” Kaede said, jutting her lower lip out in a pout. “Hope you didn’t spend too much on that.”

“Nah,” Shuichi said with a shrug. “Maybe I can give it to one of those guys who were here earlier as a gift.”

Kaede smiled. “One more to go, huh? Next week?”

“Next week,” Shuichi said with a nod.

Finding a way to play soccer was much harder than the others. The two spent what felt like the entire day scouting for anywhere with a soccer net installed, and finally just settled on looking for open, empty fields. Finally, they just settled on Kaede’s backyard, where they kicked around the soccer ball halfheartedly, like a child lazily playing catch with the parent they got to spend the majority of their weekends with. “This is stupid,” Kaede grumbled an hour or so after they started.

“Well, I’m sure an actual game has more running,” Shuichi said. “But yeah, we kind of got the short end of the stick on this one.”

Kaede puffed her cheeks out, humming in thought. “Aren’t you constantly running in soccer?”

Shuichi shrugged, kicking the ball off and watching it bounce weakly toward the house. “Hell if I know. Neither of us are the type to watch sports. I would assume so, though.”

Kaede let her eyes wander to the large tree looming over them. “Well, I’m out of options.”

“Kaede?”

Instead of responding, Kaede turned on her heel and marched back into her house. Not even caring that she still had company over, she made her way to her room and slammed the door closed behind her.

When Shuichi caught up to her a moment later, she was sitting on the edge of her bed staring at the wall. “Kaede, what’s the matter?” He asked, taking a seat next to her.

“I’m going to spend the last year of high school doing everything I hate and nothing I actually want to do,” Kaede huffed. “Whatever sport I do is gonna be a wash, and even if I could be good at any of them, all my days are going to be stuffed.”

Shuichi put a hand on her back silently.

Kaede kept talking, not caring who was listening, if anyone. “I guess it’s my fault for putting this all off until the last minute.”

“They do say that your senior year is either the easiest or the hardest,” Shuichi said. “I guess you just got the less desirable option.”

Kaede didn’t respond.

“But you know I’ll be there for you, right Kaede?” Shuichi leaned forward to try and catch a glimpse of Kaede’s face. What he got when he found it was a stony look of determination.

“Cheerleading.”

Shuichi raised an eyebrow, unsure if he actually heard her right. “Hm?”

Kaede shrugged and sat up straight. “I’ll just...sign up for cheerleading.”

“Kaede,” Shuichi protested.

“I have to do something I’ll hate no matter what, so why _don’t_ I do what will at least give me something to look at?” Kaede seemed steadfast.

Shuichi put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to look him dead in the eyes. “Kaede, I say this as your best friend: I know you think they’re hot, but cheerleading would destroy you.”

Kaede frowned, her determination temporarily replaced with frustration. “Hey! Are you saying that because I’m chubby? If that’s the reason, then all of these sports would destroy me! Softball would wreck my wrists, volleyball would melt my mind, basketball would make me a laughing stock because I can’t aim for shit, and the other girls in soccer would leave me in the dust.”

Shuichi shook his head adamantly. “Kaede, you don’t understand. You have to do tumbling in cheerleading. Tumbling!”

“I can make a blog to do that,” Kaede spat with a smug grin.

The joke didn’t seem to land, which was weird because Shuichi totally struck Kaede as the type of person to understand that reference. Instead, his face remained grim. “You have to do handsprings or whatever they’re called. Lift people up above your head, all sorts of dangerous routines filled with a multitude of things that can go wrong! All it would take is one messed up stunt and your career as a pianist is over!”

The words were harsh, but they snapped Kaede back down to earth. Her eyes went wide and she could feel beads of sweat breaking out on her forehead. She held her hands out in front of her and stared at them, noting that they were trembling. “I...no, you’re right, Shuichi. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Shuichi breathed a sigh of relief, finally letting go of Kaede. “Sorry I got loud there, Kaede, but...I don’t want to see you get hurt. I’d hate it if you threw away what you’ve worked so hard for just because of a hasty decision. You’re my best friend, and I care about you too much to let you put yourself in so much danger.”

Kaede could feel her eyes start to water again. She threw her arms around Shuichi and cried into his shoulder, all of her feelings of anger and frustration boiling over into tears. “Look at me, crying like a baby because I don’t want to play a sport,” she sobbed. “I’m so stupid.”

Shuichi was shocked at first, but put his arms around her, patting the back of her head calmly. “It’s okay, Kaede,” he said.

Sniffling, Kaede sat herself up straight. “I’ll just pick volleyball,” she said. “I won’t have to move around too much and the ball isn’t too hard or heavy...” She could hear the uncertainty in her own voice, and it weighed on her shoulders like a grand piano strapped to her back, but she choked the words out regardless. “How’s that sound?”

“Perfect,” Shuichi said with a firm nod.

They parted ways that day with a promise to hang out one or two more times before school started again, and Kaede spent the rest of the summer telling herself over and over again that she was going to sign up for volleyball day one.

Volleyball, volleyball, volleyball.

Then, her final year of high school started. As most first days are, it was a fairly easy day, and as soon as she could, she marched herself down to the bulletin board with the sports announcements on it. The corkboard in question had many sign-up sheets on it, one for each gender division of each sport, and one extra for the cheer squad. Just for fun, Kaede read over the descriptions of the sports.

The girls’ volleyball sheet billed itself as a fast-paced sport with a tight knit team. The basketball one had a similar description, and the soccer sheet boasted about the school winning the championship with last year’s team. Softball looked pretty barren, both in names and a description. However, the cheer squad’s sheet was...colorful, pastel and decorated with stars up top and little pompoms at the start of each line. The description said the team wasn’t a competitive cheer squad, so they wouldn’t be going to any major competitions or anything, just meant to perform at the school’s various other sports events and pep rallies.

Two names were already scrawled on the sheet in the same messy handwriting, and they were familiar to Kaede as people in her year and even in some of the classes she had been to mere hours ago.

Kaito Momota and Maki Harukawa.

“What if I just…”

No.

Shaking the intrusive thoughts out of her head, Kaede dug a pen out of her bag—her favorite one, that wrote in purple glitter. She clicked it and turned her attention squarely to the volleyball sheet.

Volleyball, volleyball, volleyball.

Sign up for volleyball, Kaede.

Shuichi’s words about hasty decisions rang through her head. So did Mrs. Sato’s advice about avoiding cheerleading for her hands’ sakes, and even her own conscience was yelling at her to make the smart move.

Everything in the universe was screaming at her that this was a bad idea.

Everything in the universe except her right hand, of course, which neatly printed her name on the sign-up sheet for the cheer squad.

Kaede coasted through the rest of the day high on the adrenaline rush that putting her name on the wrong sheet of paper gave her. That feeling spiked again when she got a text from Shuichi asking her if she remembered to sign up for volleyball.

 _Of course I did_ , she texted him back. _We didn’t spend all summer fretting over this for me to forget._

 _Just making sure,_ Shuichi responded.

Kaede knew that it wouldn’t take long at all for Shuichi to learn that he was just lied to, but she took solace in knowing she could at least get through the rest of the night with a somewhat clear conscience. The thrill took Kaede all the way to bed that night, at which point her mood came crashing down. The night was lost to her twisting and turning, anxiety trapping her heart in a vice grip. Several times, she almost dragged herself out of bed and poured out a tearful confession to Shuichi over text, but the terror of his disappointment kept her glued to the bed sheets.

The morning came slowly, and when Kaede was finally dragging herself out of bed, she buried her face in her hands, letting a curtain of blonde hair fall around her face. One deep sigh later, and it was time to get ready for the second day of her senior year. When she thought of it that way after the night that felt like three years, she almost wanted to go right back to bed.

The first class of the day brought a somewhat new face to Kaede’s life. She had finally convinced herself she could get through the whole day without having an anxiety attack when the teacher calling names for roll call recited a name she had just seen on paper less than a day ago. “Kaito Momota,” she said, scanning the class.

Kaede tensed up and turned to see the source of the loud, boisterous “Here!” His name was familiar, and he definitely had a face that Kaede could remember seeing throughout her high school years. It helped that his hair was a gigantic purple rat’s nest, too.

He didn’t really strike Kaede as the cheerleader type, unless being loud was a requirement.

She tried to push all thoughts of what she had done out of her head, but the world had different plans, because as soon as that class had ended, she was descended upon by that hideous hairdo. “You’re Kaede Akamatsu?” Kaito asked, approaching her as if he’d known her all his life.

Kaede stood from her desk and grabbed her stuff, holding it close to her chest. “Uh, yeah? What about it?”

Kaito smiled and offered her his hand. “Kaito Momota. Good to meet ya!”

Kaede raised an eyebrow, looking at Kaito as if his hand was liable to explode when she took it. “Um...sure?” She shifted how she was holding her things so she could put her hand in his, at which point he grabbed it tight and shook it firmly.

“I saw your name on the sign-up sheet and didn’t recognize ya from last year, so I thought I should find ya to introduce myself,” Kaito explained, not loosening his tight grip on Kaede’s hand. “As luck would have it, ya just happened to be in home room with me!”

Kaede let out a weak chuckle. “Hah, yeah, lucky. Kaito, can I have my hand back now?”

“Oh, right.” Kaito let go of her hand and she brought it back to her chest. “So what made ya wanna become a cheerleader?”

“It’s a long story,” Kaede assured him. “We’d be here all day if I told it.”

“Fair enough,” he said, looking like he’d just been told something highly philosophical. “Well, I’ll see ya at tryouts! If you need any advice or anything, this will be mine and Maki Roll’s fourth year straight doin’ this, so feel free to come an’ find us!” Without even waiting for Kaede to respond, Kaito turned and bounded out of the room, and before the door closed behind him, Kaede caught a glimpse of him meeting up with a girl with incredibly long black hair.

“This was a terrible idea,” she whimpered to herself. Surely someone else heard that oaf loudly proclaiming that Kaede Akamatsu was going to try out for cheerleading, so that meant it was only a matter of minutes until Shuichi learned what she’d done.

Luckily, it seemed anyone who heard didn’t really care, because he still hadn’t caught wind of her deception when lunch came by that day. He did, however, notice the bags under Kaede’s eyes and the way her hands were nervously twitching as she ate. “You okay?” He asked in between bites.

“I’m fine,” Kaede assured him, flashing a weak smile. “I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“What happened?” The genuine concern in Shuichi’s voice and face as he asked pained Kaede, but she took solace in knowing that she could answer his question without lying, at least.

“Anxiety,” she said quickly. “I think the weight of everything that’s gonna be going on this year is starting to get to me.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you,” Shuichi said, turning most of his attention back to his food. “A full schedule of required classes and an extracurricular activity to balance on top of all that sure does put a lot on your plate.”

Kaede nodded as she started to space out. When she came back to earth, her eyes had landed on a table across the cafeteria, where she saw that unmistakable head of purple hair. He was talking and laughing with someone at his table, who sat with her back to Kaede. She decided to look back to Shuichi before Kaito could see her staring at the back of his companion’s head, and she came back to a concerned expression. “What’s going on?” He asked, starting to sound suspicious.

“I was just spacing out,” Kaede said, her voice getting higher pitched. “No problem!”

Shuichi didn’t seem convinced, but he let it go anyway. “Okay. If you need any help this year, just let me know, okay? I’ll be glad to help you out.”

“Thank you so much, Shuichi,” Kaede said. Just hearing him say that felt like a weight off her shoulders.

Unfortunately, it also brought the guilt of lying back in full force, so the two sensations pretty much offset each other.

The rest of the day passed without incident, except for Kaede picking up on another name that was on the sign-up sheet above hers. Sure enough, Maki Harukawa was also in one of her classes, but Kaede didn’t have to deal with meeting another somewhat new person, because once that class was over, Maki had disappeared from the classroom like a ghost. “God, the universe is just out to get me today,” she mumbled to herself on her way out of the school once all of her classes were over. She ducked out quickly, avoiding contact with anyone she knew so she could just go straight home.

She felt stupid for thinking home would hold any feeling of relief from her stressful day, because the moment she had entered her room, her phone went off with a text: _Kaede Akamatsu._

“Oh geez, Shuichi used a period in his text,” Kaede said with a chuckle. “I’m in danger.” She typed out an innocent _yes?_ and practically tossed her phone across the room, terrified of what his response was going to be.

Seconds later, her phone went off twice in a row, which made the color drain from her face. “Oh fuck.”

Unable to ignore that, she gingerly picked up her phone and checked her messages. The first was a picture of the sign-up sheet for cheerleading. She could see three familiar names under hers, but didn’t bother to focus on what they were, because the next message read, _care to explain?_

 _I would, but I really can’t,_ Kaede typed. I _t was a spur of the moment thing. I wasn’t even thinking._

 _You sure weren’t!_ Even through text, Kaede could hear the message in Shuichi’s voice.

 _You’re mad,_ she said, eyes welling up with tears as she typed.

A moment passed without a reply, but finally, she got another message. _I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed, I guess._

“That’s worse!” Kaede said to herself out loud. “Aw man, I fucked this one up.”

Before she could type out an apology, Shuichi added, _just...be careful, okay?_

_Will do._

Kaede threw herself onto her bed, head landing hard on her pillow. “Damn it, Kaede,” she said to herself, letting her phone drop from her hand and onto the floor. “What would Minako think of you putting your whole future at risk because of some pretty girls?”

Now that Shuichi was aware of her lie, Kaede actually slept easier that night. It probably helped that he hadn’t tried to force her to change her mind, or perhaps the fact that someone else knew helped soothe her anxiety. Whatever it was, she hoped she could avoid any further anxiety attacks until after try-outs.

She couldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I had a nickel for every time I wrote a lesbian cheerleader AU and posted the first chapter on one of the character's birthdays despite the character in question not really showing up, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that I've done it twice.


	2. The Rules of the Squad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New friends, old enemies, and a quirky cheer coach await as it comes time for tryouts. Will Kaede even make it onto the squad?

Two weeks after school started, the gym saw swarms of students going in every day to try out for a different sport. The Friday of that week saw the smallest crowd of all of them, and that was the one Kaede found herself in. As she expected, the group was primarily girls, with only two boys joining the lineup. One was Kaito, of course, but the face of Shuichi’s ex was not one she expected to see. He seemed ecstatic to see her though, judging by the way he bounded over to her on sight, eyes sparkling with false wonder and ratty, greasy hair bouncing as he did. “Hey, Kaede!” He called. “What a totally unexpected surprise to see you trying out to be a cheerleader!”

Kaede rolled her eyes, just barely holding back a groan. “Is it, now?” She responded flatly.

“No,” he said quickly, matching her flat, uninterested tone. “I called it from a mile away.”

“Bet seeing my name on the sign-up sheet before yours helped give it away, huh?” Kaede was talking slower than usual, which was her way of getting as little conversation with this boy as possible.

“What? No...” The infuriating new voice her unwelcome visitor put on sounded sarcastic, but considering what she knew about him, it wasn’t any sort of indication of what he actually meant. “I didn’t even look at the sheet before I signed up. So! Change of subject, how is Shu—”

“That’s enough,” Kaede said, holding her hand out mere inches from his mouth. “I won’t be fielding questions about your ex. Again. Let it go, Kokichi.”

Suddenly, the doors to the gym came flying open, snapping everyone’s attention to the new visitor. “Sorry to keep you waiting, paragons of cheer!” A peppy, older woman’s voice called out. The woman who was marching into the gym had long, tousled blonde hair which bounced as she walked. She had a laptop tucked under one arm and a steaming cup of coffee in her other hand. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to see so many happy faces here, today! I will be your new cheer coach for the year. You may call me Ophelia Dusk. Or Ophelia, or Mrs. Dusk. Whichever you prefer.”

Kokichi scoffed at the woman’s display. “You don’t work here,” he said confidently. “Who let you in?”

Ophelia took a sip of her coffee. “Astute observation. No, I don’t work at the school, but the only teacher qualified to be cheer coach has taken the spot as the men’s softball coach this year, and he couldn’t be asked to handle two teams at once. Therefore, the school contacted yours truly! I think you’ll find that I’m more than qualified, as I’ve been a cheerleader for most of my life, following in my father’s footsteps and with a championship or two under my belt. Any other questions?”

Kokichi raised his hand, but nobody else did, so Ophelia grabbed a whistle from around her neck and blew it. “Excellent. Everyone, get changed into your gym clothes and wait for me to come get you. We’ll be trying out in groups of three, so, ahem...” She cleared her throat and took a seat on the bleachers, setting her coffee to the side and grabbing a paper from in between the laptop’s hinges. She held the sign-up sheet in front of her and continued, “Kaito Momota, Maki Harukawa, and Kaede Akamatsu, come out as soon as you are changed. Thank you!”

“Excuse me, Miss Dark,” Kokichi said. “I have another question.”

“No time, get moving!” Ophelia blew her whistle and the girls (and two boys) scattered, making their way to the locker rooms to get ready. Kaede changed as fast as she could, but when she left the locker room and emerged into the gym once more, both of the others were already there. Kaito waved her over, a big grin gracing his face. “Kaede, hey! This is Maki Roll.”

He gestured at the shorter girl next to him, who shot daggers at him before turning her attention to Kaede. Her eyes were a striking shade of red, and her hair was pulled back into two enormous pigtails that almost went all the way down to her feet. She crossed her arms over her stomach, which brought Kaede’s attention to her long-sleeved shirt that seemed out of place in that late summer afternoon. “Maki. Kaito’s the only one who can call me that name, and even he risks getting castrated when he does.” As she spoke, her face showed no trace of emotion, which was strange to Kaede. Didn’t Kaito say this would be their fourth year on the squad? How did the squad accept someone three years in a row when she looked like she’d never smiled in her life? Still, there was something about her expression that was...arresting.

So much so that she couldn’t manage to think of a response to what she said before Ophelia started speaking. “Alright, I’ve been told that two of you have been doing this for a while now.”

“We sure have,” Kaito said proudly, standing up straight as if he was in line at a boot camp. “Maki Roll here and I have been doin’ this since year one.”

“Excellent,” Ophelia said. “And Kaede, how about you?”

Kaede cleared her throat. “Well, I’ve never done this, but I’d be more than happy to give it a try if you’ll let me!” She held up her hands, clenched into fists to show her determination.

Ophelia’s expression lit up. “I like your spirit! Your voice makes me want to listen closely, and your determined face makes me want to follow you wherever you may lead.”

“You got all that from one sentence?” Kaede asked, looking at Ophelia like she had two heads.

“What about my one sentence?” Kaito asked. “I’m pretty sure I said two, even.”

Ophelia turned her gaze to Kaito. “Yeah, you have bravado too, but Kaede’s voice has a certain… _je ne sais quoi_.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Maki elbowed him in the side. “I don’t know what,” she said flatly. “Don’t ask stupid questions.”

“Wow, Mrs. Dusk must be real smart to know something that Maki doesn’t,” Kaito mused, unaffected by the elbow digging into his ribs.

Ophelia giggled. “I feel a lot of chemistry between you three. I like it. Now, I have one more question for Maki.” She took a drink of her coffee, and when it went down, she continued, “where’s that cheerleader spirit? You know, the irresistible smile and loud, proud voice that’s meant to put the audience under your spell. You seem rather...dour for someone who’s been doing this for so long.”

Instead of answering, Maki turned on her heels and started walking away from the coach and those in line next to her. “Uh, Maki?” Kaede asked.

Kaito hushed her by holding a hand up. “Sh, just watch.”

Maki reached the large double doors to the gym before turning around. After taking a deep breath, she broke out into a sprint. Kaede didn’t even know how to describe the stunts Maki did in the next ten seconds, but she watched her do them so intently, she didn’t even realize she was holding her breath until it was over. After several flips, tumbles and jumps, she landed near where Kaede and Kaito were standing with one arm held straight above her head and one stretched out to the side.

Ophelia’s jaw dropped. “Oh. My. God. That was absolutely incredible!”

“The other coach decided Maki Roll didn’t need to smile with talent like that,” Kaito explained. “And besides, I’m plenty energetic and spirited for the both of us!”

“I’d be inclined to agree!” Ophelia said. “Okay, well you can sit this next part out then, Maki. Kaede, Kaito, are there any stunts you know that you can show me?”

Immediately after Ophelia stopped talking, Kaito stepped forward. “My turn,” he said. “I won’t let you show me up that easily, Maki Roll.”

“You’ll do the rest yourself, dumbass,” Maki said, strolling to the bleachers and taking a seat next to Ophelia.

“Alright, Kaito, let’s see it!” Ophelia watched Kaito intently as he made his way to the center of the gym. He did some tricks of his own, and while it was still nothing Kaede could do, it was nowhere near as impressive as Maki’s display, and he got winded quickly.

“There,” he gasped once he was done. “Did that...do anything for ya?”

Ophelia gave him a smile and a thumb’s up, which he returned eagerly. “Very good, Kaito. Alright, Kaede, is there anything you can show me?”

Kaede could feel her face heat up. “Uh, nothing I haven’t known since I was a kid. I could do a somersault or something.”

“Hey, this isn’t a competition,” Ophelia assured her. “Anything you can do is fine. I need to know where I’m starting with everyone.”

“Right.” Kaede waited until Kaito sat down on the opposite side of Ophelia as Maki and took a deep breath. She was anxious, but not about the fact that three vastly superior cheerleaders were watching her. Her mind briefly flashed through all the ways what she was about to do could hurt her hands or wrists, but she soldiered past it and did what she had said she could.

Two or three somersaults and a sloppy partial cartwheel later, and Ophelia was satisfied with what she’d seen. “Alright, good. You seem nervous when you start, so we’ll have to start there.”

“Does...does that mean I’m in?” Kaede asked nervously. “I didn’t think I’d made that good of an impression.”

Ophelia laughed as though there was a joke Kaede wasn’t in on. “Would you like to know a secret? There aren’t enough people trying out for me to deny anyone without a really good reason,” she explained, tapping the sign-up sheet with the back of her hand. “So, unless you had hurt yourself doing that, you were gonna get in no matter what.”

Kaede wasn’t sure whether this information made her feel better about her situation or worse. “O-oh.”

Ophelia seemed to pick up on her conflicted feelings, because she set her computer next to her, laid the sign-up sheet on the keyboard, and put her coffee down next to it before springing up off the bleacher. “But don’t fear!” she declared, bounding to Kaede. She grabbed the younger girl’s hands in her own and held them up in front of her. “I love your energy and natural enthusiasm! I can tell just from this short, chance meeting that you have what it takes to become a stand-out crowd favorite!”

Hearing Ophelia so enthusiastic perked Kaede up, and she couldn’t help but return the excited sentiment. “Right! Thank you. I’ll do my best.” She looked to Kaito and Maki next; the former was hanging onto Ophelia’s every word and the latter seemed to have checked out, staring into the middle distance blankly. “And I look forward to getting to know you guys!”

Kaito returned her smile with one of his own. “Likewise!”

Maki seemed to snap back into reality and she scanned Kaede with her eyes before nodding silently back at her.

Kaede was a bit thrown off by that reaction. Had Maki really zoned out, or was she just unsure about letting someone so inexperienced into her squad with her? It wasn’t worth agonizing over, she knew, but something about that brooding, dark-haired girl just captured Kaede’s attention.

“Alright, now you three are free to go,” Ophelia said, letting Kaede’s hands go and moving to her computer. She grabbed three pieces of paper out from under the sign-up sheet and gave one to each student. “This will tell you when the first day of practice is and what to bring. Don’t be late, my fledgling stars!”

Kaede and Kaito shot back with, “Yes, ma’am!” but Maki merely took the paper and silently made herself scarce.

Kaede grabbed her stuff from the locker room, not even bothering to change back into what she’d worn to school that day.

She was still having a hard time believing what had just happened, but she was past the point of turning back now, so whether it was a good idea or not, she was entrenched in this impulse decision for the rest of the school year.

The next day, she recounted the tale to Shuichi over lunch. He seemed to be following her just fine until she made a passing reference to the big, stupid head of hair she’d been standing next to during try outs. “Wait, who did you say this was again?” He asked, one hand grasping the brim of his hat and lifting it slightly.

“Kaito Momota? Why?”

Shuichi’s reaction was immediate, and before Kaede had even finished saying his name he had yanked his hat back down over his eyes and was blushing wildly. “You’re on the cheer squad with Kaito?”

“Er, yeah,” Kaede said. “He said this would be his fourth year doing it.”

“Oh, god.” Shuichi looked around nervously, as if saying his name would summon him to the table. “Hey, Kaede, do you think...”

He trailed off and started to stutter. Kaede brought his attention back to her by tapping on the table impatiently. “What? Use your words, Shuichi!”

Shuichi took a deep breath and mumbled, “Do you think you could get his number for me?”

Kaede’s eyes went wide as his behavior clicked in her head. “Oh, I see. You have a little crush on Kaito, don’t you?”

“Maybe,” he stuttered, looking away in shame.

“Wait, how do you even know him?”

“He’s been in at least one of my classes every year,” Shuichi explained. “He’s...not the sharpest tool in the shed, but there’s just something about him...I’ve never worked up the courage to talk to him so...maybe you can help me out!”

Kaede crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. “Hey now, I’m not going to be playing matchmaker for you, mister!” Shuichi flinched back at her words and her expression softened. “But once I get to know him, maybe I can help you out a bit.”

Shuichi breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew. Thanks, Kaede. Maybe, if you’re there, I can go to a game to watch you guys or something. I could talk to him then, probably.”

Kaede bit her lip, slouching forward slightly. “Yeah, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. See, someone...else signed up for the squad, too.”

Her tone put Shuichi on edge. “Who…?”

She traced her finger along the table, wishing she didn’t have to say what she was about to. “Kokichi’s there.”

Shuichi groaned and rolled his eyes. “Ugh, of course he is. I wonder if he saw your name and signed up to get close to me again.”

Kaede shrugged. “That was my first thought too, but who knows. I’ll just ignore him the best I can.”

“That’s always the best option with Kokichi,” Shuichi laughed. “Anyway, I’m glad everything went well. You will be careful, right?”

Kaede flashed her best friend a toothy grin. “Of course!” She felt a little like Kaito with that level of enthusiasm, but she wasn’t going to say it out loud now that she knew how Shuichi felt about the guy.

From then, it briefly became a waiting game. Cheerleading didn’t start right away, so the squad didn’t convene again for another month or so. On the fated day, Kaede walked into the gym to see most of the squad already present on the bleachers, and one Kaito Momota waving at her frantically. “Hey, Kaede! Come take a seat over here! I saved ya one right in between me and Maki Roll.”

Several faces Kaede recognized and a few she didn’t turned to look at either her or Kaito, but she shrugged off their stares and took a seat like he’d asked. She had decided in the interim that if Shuichi wanted her to help him get with this guy, she was going to make sure she approved of him first, and what better way than spending time with him at practice? She also wanted to get to know Maki a bit better, too, but that was for a more selfish reason. Once she was sat in between them, she asked the first thing that came to mind, which happened to be a question directly related to Shuichi’s current intent. “So, how close are you two, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Now why’d you go and ask that so out of the blue?” Kaito shot back.

Kaede shrugged and looked to Maki on her left, who seemed like she wasn’t even paying attention. “I dunno, I just see you two around each other a lot, so naturally I was curious.”

Kaito didn’t think twice about it, puffing his chest out proudly. “Maki Roll and I have known each other for years now. We’re basically siblings at this point.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Maki said, a warning tone in her voice. “I don’t think you’re Kaito’s type.”

Kaito laughed, reaching behind Kaede to playfully punch Maki in the shoulder. “Maybe not, but maybe she’s your type, eh Maki?”

In response, Maki’s eyes glazed over with murderous intent and she glared at Kaito. “Do you want to die?”

Kaede’s jaw dropped at that exchange. “Oh. I didn’t think that idea would be so offensive.”

Kaito didn’t seem phased by his old friend’s harsh words or the hurt in his new friend’s voice. “Oh, don’t worry. Maki Roll always says stuff like that, even when she agrees with me. It’s part of her charm!”

Kaede certainly didn’t feel very charmed. “Well, if you say so.” She shook her head, eager to change the subject. “Anyway, I have a best friend like that too, actually.”

“Oh yeah?” Kaito seemed fully on board with the change in direction. “Got a sidekick of your own, eh?”

Kaede shrugged. “I don’t know if I would call him a sidekick, but...”

“Oh, I know who you’re talking about!”

And suddenly, there went the conversation. Kokichi had come bounding over as if he was waiting on pins and needles for Shuichi to be brought up. “You shouldn’t get too interested in her bff, Kaito. He’s like, tragically straight. _So_ not tubular.”

Kaede was annoyed at Kokichi, but she couldn’t help but snort and burst into laughter at those words. “He most certainly is not,” she promised. “Just because he doesn’t like you doesn’t mean a thing.”

Kaito watched the proceedings, stroking his silly beard. “I get the feeling there’s some sort of history between you two.”

“You catch on quick,” Maki said flatly.

Kokichi grinned wide and nodded quickly. “Oh yeah. Kaede and I go, like, _way_ back dude.”

“We don’t,” Kaede said. “And why are you talking like some sort of surfer dude?”

Kokichi’s expression glazed over as if he was lost in thought. He put a finger to his chin and tilted his head to the side. “Sorry, this guy just seems so stupid, I thought talking like that would be the only way for him to understand me.”

Kaito’s brow furrowed and he shot a glare at Kokichi. “Oi! Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!”

“Oh no, it’s sentient.” Kokichi seemed disappointed as he scurried away, probably to bug someone else for the time being.

“Sorry about him,” Kaede said. “He’s always been that obnoxious.”

Maki spoke directly to Kaede for what seemed like the first time. “I don’t even know his name and I wish he was dead.”

Kaede smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, he’s a handful. Imagine what I felt when he was dating my best friend.”

“He wouldn’t survive the night,” Maki shot back, fixating her murderous glare squarely on Kokichi’s back.

That was when Ophelia came into the gym, striding in like she was skipping through a field of flowers. “Good afternoon, current and future cheer stars! Are we ready to begin the journey to our destinies? Everyone, line up!”

The ragtag cheer squad got into a line in the center of the gym as Ophelia started calling attendance. Most of them were new names to Kaede, but a couple stood out. Like when Ophelia called for one Miu Iruma.

“Yeah yeah, I’m here,” the crass voice Kaede recognized from a few classes called out. She wondered what it was that brought Miu to cheerleading, but she came to the conclusion that they were in the same boat and decided that deduction was good enough for her.

The next familiar name was Tsumugi Shirogane, who Kaede had done a couple of projects with and knew decently well. After getting everyone accounted for, Ophelia struck an odd pose in front of the group. “Alright everyone, get your stretches in! While you do that, I’ll come around and collect your sizing information so I know what kind of uniforms to order.”

“We’re still getting uniforms despite not being a proper team or anything?” Kaede asked.

“Well, of course,” Ophelia said, putting a hand on her hip. “Just because you aren’t going to be making waves in competitions doesn’t mean you don’t need to look fabulous while you’re performing.”

Kokichi raised his hand. “Do I need to tell you my size?”

“Yes, Kokichi,” Ophelia said, her tone reminding Kaede of one of those television shows for toddlers. “I know you fully intend to be the mascot, but we can’t have you getting lost in a suit that’s too big.”

Kokichi was silent for a long moment. “Right. I was kinda thinking about making my own.”

Ophelia seemed caught off guard by that statement. “Uh, huh. Well, even if you do have the means to make a mascot costume, which I doubt, I would rather you wear one that’s professionally made.”

“Ouch.”

“You also still have to stretch,” Ophelia said, delivering her line like it was the final blow in a sword fight. “Now get to it!”

Kaede stuck by Kaito and Maki while the team stretched. Kaito didn’t seem to mind, but Maki seemed slightly annoyed. Even after Kaede explained that she would rather not deal with the way Miu liked to talk to her, Maki seemed like she would rather be dealing with Kokichi.

It most likely wasn’t the case, but Kaede couldn’t shake that possibility from her mind. However, any anxiety she gave herself from overthinking that disappeared entirely when Ophelia approached her. Well, it didn’t disappear, but rather was replaced by a different flavor of anxiety. She blushed and mumbled her size to her coach, shooting glances around to make sure nobody was listening to her divulge just how much bigger she was than most of her squad mates. Ophelia seemed to pick up on this immediately. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, dear,” she assured her. “By the time I’m done with you, we’ll all be family here. The kind of family that loves each other unconditionally, not the kind that jeers at each other about things out of their control.”

Kaede appreciated the sentiment, but after Ophelia left, she could feel her anxiety spike again when Kaito shot her a confused glance. “Everything okay, Kaede?” He asked.

She felt a lump forming in her throat. She didn’t want to get too into her body image issues with a relative stranger, but it turned out she didn’t need to. Maki softly punched him in the side, causing him to recoil and fall into a coughing fit. “Idiot,” she snapped. “Learn to read the room and maybe you’ll know next time that you don’t need to go sticking your nose places it doesn’t belong.”

Kaito didn’t seem to get it, but regardless, he shook his head. “Alright. Sorry, Maki Roll.”

Maki sighed, burying her face in one hand. “Don’t apologize to me, stupid.”

“O-oh, right! Sorry, Kaede.” Kaito put his arms to his sides and bowed his head to fully get the point across.

“It’s alright,” she responded, giving a sheepish giggle.

It seemed like a miracle that Miu had made it through the entire first day of practice without making fun of anybody’s body, but once in the locker room afterward, it became clear that it wasn’t a stroke of luck by any means. Kaede had taken her gym shirt off and was reaching for the one she’d worn to school when she heard Miu’s voice behind her. “Oh hey, almost didn’t see ya there, Kaede.”

Kaede cringed at the sound of the other girl’s voice. “Hi Miu,” she said. She knew replying with vitriol right away would end poorly, but that didn’t mean she was going to turn around and face the bitch in question.

“What brings you all the way to cheerleading?” Miu asked, feigning deep interest. “Is it the same reason I need to do some kind of sport this year?”

“Probably,” Kaede said quickly.

Miu barked a haughty, self-congratulatory laugh. “Well, that’s what you get for refusing to work out for once in your life. You get resigned to doing something you won’t even be any good at!”

Kaede’s brow furrowed and she turned around to face Miu. Her retort caught in her throat when she saw that Miu wasn’t wearing anything at all on her top half.

“What? Distracted by my perfect tits?” Miu taunted, cupping her breasts in her hands to show them off. “Aren’t they so much bigger and perkier than yours?”

Psychological warfare. Very shrewd, Iruma.

Finally, Kaede gathered herself enough to speak, looking Miu in the eyes when she said, “Don’t make fun of me for not doing sports when you haven’t done them either, Miu. You know what they say about glass houses.”

Miu scoffed, putting her hands on her hips and puffing her chest out distractingly—er, proudly. “Don’t pretend we’re anywhere near the same situation, Kae-dumb,” she huffed. “ _I_ haven’t done any sports credits because I need my gorgeous brains to stay intact. _You’ve_ avoided it because you’re just fa—“

“Don’t you say it!” Kaede snapped, stomping her foot on the ground. “I swear, Miu, leave me alone this year, okay? I have enough on my plate and I’m sure you do, too.”

Miu snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure you have plenty on your fuckin’ plate, piggy!”

In the blink of an eye, Maki had put herself in between the girls. “That’s quite enough,” she said, intent to kill dripping from her every word. Kaede was looking at Maki’s back, but the face she was wearing must have been intense, because Miu immediately shrank back. “We’re going to be on the same squad all year, and if you spend all of it hating each other, it will only go by slower. Plus, if you annoy me too much more, I’ll kill you.”

Miu screeched, sweat pouring down her face and hands moving to her cheeks. “I-I’m sorry, I swear I won’t do it again!”

“You better not,” Maki said, crossing her arms. “Now go put a shirt on, you slut.”

Miu made a noise somewhere between a cry of fear and a moan of pleasure before leaving Maki and Kaede alone. Maki shook her head and turned back to Kaede. “She’s always like that, isn’t she?”

“More or less,” Kaede said with a sigh. “Usually that’s enough to reel her in for a couple hours, though. Honestly, I think she gets off to it.”

“Fucking weirdo.” Maki shrugged and started making her way back to her belongings.

“Thanks for stepping in for me, Maki,” Kaede said before putting her shirt back on. “I know you probably didn’t do it for me specifically, but I appreciate it nonetheless.”

“I did it to keep things civil on the squad,” Maki admitted. “Last year, we had a nasty spat between two girls who were dating at the beginning of the year and went through a breakup, and I swear if I have to put up with half of that again, I’ll kill someone. Probably Kaito.”

Kaede laughed. “Well, still.”

Her next thought was cut off when Maki said, “But also...you shouldn’t feel ashamed of your body.”

Kaede was caught completely off guard. “Wh-what?”

“I’ve been doing this for four years now, and I’ve seen every type of body come through this locker room,” Maki explained. “And yours is...er, what I mean to say is you’re…never mind. I’m going to tell the coach to watch out for Miu.” She spun around on her heel and quickly made herself scarce; but on her way out, Kaede could have sworn she caught a glimpse of a blush on the other girl’s face.

“Huh.”

She spent the rest of her time in that room trying to decipher what Maki was trying to say, but she got distracted by Tsumugi sidling up to her on their way out. “Fancy seeing you here, Kaede,” she said, which was her usual greeting.

“How was your break, Tsumugi?” Kaede asked, giving the other girl a quick hug before picking up her stuff and setting out for the door.

“It wasn’t anything special,” Tsumugi mused. “Just a plain, boring break as usual.”

“I feel you there,” Kaede said with a laugh. “I’m looking forward to being on the cheer squad with you, though! What made you sign up?”

Tsumugi’s expression lit up, which told Kaede it probably had something to do with anime. “Oh! See, over the break I got into this anime where the main protagonist is a cheerleader, so I thought, what better way to get prepared for my next cosplay than doing actual cheerleading?”

“That’s dedication,” Kaede said. “We’ll try to have some fun despite Miu.”

“Well, if that cute girl was anything to go by, she might be easier to deal with than usual,” Tsumugi said. “Who was she? You two seemed close.”

“We did?” Kaede asked. “Er, that’s Maki. She seems nice. Honestly I’ve only known her since tryouts, so we’re not that close.”

Tsumugi hummed in thought. “Well, regardless, I think you two have the potential to become close.”

Something she said earlier suddenly occurred to Kaede. “Wait, did you call Maki cute?”

“Yeah? And?” Tsumugi said. “Just because I spend most of my time watching anime and making cosplays for those anime doesn’t mean I don’t know a cute real-life girl when I see one.”

Kaede laughed. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Don’t worry,” Tsumugi assured her. “I won’t try to make a move on her or anything. You’re free to go for it.”

Kaede’s face started to heat up at the prospect. “Oh, heh, I dunno about that...”

Tsumugi shrugged. “Well, good luck either way. I’ll see you later, Kaede!”

The girls parted ways after that, a new seed of an idea planted in Kaede’s mind. It wasn’t much, and Kaede didn’t even truly realize it was there, but the ball was already rolling, and nobody could have predicted where it was going to go.

The very next time the squad got together for practice, Miu was noticeably keeping her distance from Maki, which Kaede took as her cue to spend more time with her and Kaito. However, the notable part of that practice was instead Ophelia establishing the ground rules. They were mostly the standard fare, which didn’t surprise anyone, but her last two points seemed oddly topical with what Maki had mentioned. “So I heard there was some drama on the squad last year,” Ophelia said. “This year, we’re not going to be dealing with that. If you have a trouble with anyone else, just bring them to me and we’ll all deal with it like a big, happy, dysfunctional family. I don’t want any bad blood between us getting in the way of our routines.”

“Sounds fair, coach,” Kokichi said, his hands cupped behind his head. “Can I call you Teach?”

Ophelia paused and looked at Kokichi like he’d suddenly grown ten feet taller. “...No.”

“Aw...”

“Final rule!” Ophelia bounced back suddenly, startling Kaito slightly. “There will be no romantic relationships between any two members of the squad.”

This caught Kaede off guard. “What?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“As a squad, we must be a well-oiled machine, and any components getting romantically involved would throw everything off,” Ophelia explained. “I won’t be having it.”

Tsumugi put her finger to her chin and hummed. “I would argue that that would make us function better, wouldn’t it?”

“Someone will be a little better oiled than others, if you catch my drift,” Miu said, congratulating herself for her remark with a loud cackle.

Ophelia seemed to ignore them both, instead opting to continue with, “Romance can be thrilling, I know, but I don’t need anyone getting distracted in the middle of a routine and flubbing it because they couldn’t keep themselves focused on the task at hand.” She crossed her arms and nodded firmly. “If I discover two people on the squad are dating, they will be kicked off and any relevant credits they may get this year will be nullified. No ifs, ands, or buts! Now let’s get started, everyone. Ten warmup laps!”

Kaede wasn’t a huge fan of the warmup laps due to the fact that she got winded faster than most of the others and was left in their dust for the most part. However, watching Maki outrun everyone without breaking a sweat wasn’t so bad when Kaito seemed to have the same amount of endurance as her. At about the same time Maki lapped them the third time, she decided to ask him about it. “Oh, that’s nothin’ worth worryin’ about,” Kaito said, huffing and puffing in between words. “I had a rest...respite...”

“Respiratory?” Kaede supplied.

“I had a lung thing when I was a kid. It’s mostly gone now, but...” Kaito paused to hack a cough into his fist. “It pretty much meant I can’t breathe right for the rest of my life.”

Kaede decided to let him ignoring her slide, mostly because she didn’t think he understood the word she had said. “And yet you still decided to do cheerleading?”

“Of course,” Kaito said. “I always believed that you should never let your physical condition hold you back from your dreams!”

“Your dream is to be a cheerleader?” Kaede was starting to feel like this exchange was raising more questions than it was answering.

Kaito laughed, shaking his head. “No. I’m here ‘cuz Maki would be alone otherwise.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Kaede said. “Maki wants to be a cheerleader professionally?”

“Who said anythin’ about that?” Kaito asked. “I don’t know why she zeroed in on this, but she’s really damn good at it, so it worked out.”

“I’m a million shades of confused right now,” Kaede said, feeling more out of breath than she was before. “So neither of you want to be professional cheerleaders, but you did it because Maki wanted to?”

“Yes,” Kaito said with a nod.

“Then what was all that about not letting physical defects getting in the way of your dreams?”

Kaito suddenly seemed very concerned. “Um...”

Kaede let out an exasperated laugh. “Kaito, I kind of want to throttle you right now.”

“Hey, you’re starting to sound a lot like Maki!”

Once the whole squad was done running laps, Ophelia called them to congregate again. “I hate to keep us from practice for so long, but I have exciting news!”

“Does it have anything to do with the huge box on the bleachers behind you?” Kokichi asked.

Ophelia flashed a toothy grin. “No, but it does have to do with the giant box on the bleachers behind me!” She spun around on her heel, grabbed the box, and spun until she was facing the squad again. She dropped the box on the ground, letting the flaps open to reveal a bunch of fabric wrapped in plastic. “Your uniforms arrived today! I won’t make you try them on today, but these are going to be what you wear to practice from now on, okay? Your names are all written on them, so please come take them when practice is over.”

Practice proceeded from there, but it quickly became apparent that two people just weren’t on the same level as anyone else. Kaede and Miu clearly lagged behind the others, and even Kokichi was running circles around them, barking crude, playful insults at Miu as he went. About halfway through, Kaede fell to a crouch, wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her face in them. “Ugh, I’m so sorry, coach!” She cried. “I’m such a failure.”

Ophelia bounded over, the action itself shedding a little bit of enthusiasm to Kaede. “Oh, don’t be like that, my dear,” she said. “All you need is a little extra coaching.”

Kaede looked up to see an outstretched hand hovering near her face. “Are you willing to do that for me?”

Ophelia’s smile seemed to light up the gym. “Of course!” After she helped Kaede to her feet, she nodded towards Miu. “Miu, you come over here too. Maki, Kaito, you show some of the newbies some basic moves. I’ll be over here if you need me.”

She received two very different reactions from those two, but didn’t pay them any mind. Kaede was kind of dreading having to be alone with Miu and Ophelia, but the former didn’t seem interested in starting a fuss. She figured it was because she was in the same boat and didn’t want to risk losing her chance to graduate to some stupid drama.

Practice wound to a close and the girls (and Kaito) all gathered around the box to distribute the uniforms. Kokichi took some convincing, but nothing drove the point home quite like Ophelia launching his uniform at him at what looked like mach speed, sending him sprawling to the ground in an explosion of plastic and fabric.

In the locker room, Kaede was approached again, but this time by someone who didn’t mean so much harm. “Kaede.”

Kaede turned to see Maki standing there, already completely changed into her normal clothes. “You know, if I had a nickel for every time someone tried to talk to me while I was in my bra in this locker room, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice already.”

Maki shook her head vigorously, but Kaede could have sworn she saw a blush start to spread on her cheeks. “Kaito and I were talking, and he wanted me to extend an invitation to you.”  
“To me?”

“Don’t parrot me,” Maki snapped. She seemed to notice Kaede shrinking back and shook her head again, expression softening as she continued, “Kaito wants us to help you out.”

That seemed like Kaito, but there was a certain bizarre quality to Maki saying those words. “Wait, really? Why me?”

Maki shrugged, looking off into the middle distance. “He would have told me to ask Miu too, but frankly, she scares him.”

Kaede’s face broke out into a wide smile. “Hah! Okay, now I believe you.”

“So?” The other girl crossed her arms to tell Kaede she was in kind of a hurry.

“I think I’d like that,” Kaede said.

Maki uncrossed her arms and reached into her pocket. From it, she produced a small scrap of paper. “These are our numbers. Text Kaito to set it up.”

Kaede took the paper and scanned her eyes across the names and corresponding numbers scrawled across it. “Cool, I will!”

“I don’t know why he insisted I give you both of our phone numbers, but I guess it might come in handy.” Maki shrugged and turned her back to Kaede. “See you later.”

“Right. Thanks, Maki! And tell Kaito I said thanks, too.” Maki wasn’t three footsteps away before Kaede had whipped out her phone and started adding the numbers to her contacts. “Shuichi will be so excited,” she giggled to herself. She had to text him right away and see if maybe she could get away with bringing Shuichi as her plus one. She couldn’t put her finger on why, but she was equally excited to get Maki’s number for some reason. She’d have to text her once they got to know each other better.

But first, she probably needed to put a shirt back on…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look...I made the nickel joke in the notes of the last chapter completely unaware that I made one in this chapter itself, and for that I apologize profusely.


	3. The Gals Become Pals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaede takes up Kaito and Maki on their offer to help her get better, and things seem to start to develop... Meanwhile, Shuichi is tapped to help his uncle out with a strange case.

That weekend, Kaede decided to jump right into Kaito’s proposition. Early Saturday, she sent a text to the number marked with Kaito’s name, saying, “ _So Maki tells me you want to help me out. Is that true? This is Kaede btw._ ”

The response came faster than she anticipated, but it was a totally different message from what she was expecting. It read, “ _That idiot labeled our numbers wrong._ ”

Kaede did a double take at the screen. “ _Oh, is this Maki?_ ” she typed out, shaking her head at Kaito’s incompetence.

“ _Sure is,_ ” Maki replied. “ _Leave it to him to make such a stupid mistake._ ”

“ _Sounds like this kind of thing is a recurring problem,_ ” Kaede said, both out loud and in text.

“ _You have no idea._ ”

From there, the two started texting idly about nothing in particular. It was mostly a matter of asking what the other was doing and how school was going, but even in the short time, Kaede felt like she was having a bonding moment with Maki. So much so that she didn’t bother to change the contact name to the correct one until about an hour later, when Maki reminded her the reason she’d started a conversation in the first place. “ _Oh, right! Sorry for keeping you,_ ” Kaede typed frantically.

“ _It’s alright,_ ” Maki’s response said. “ _You’ll be keeping me more later, I’m sure._ ”

Oops, there was another distraction. “ _What do you mean by that?_ ”

“ _If Kaito’s free and we go to the gym, of course,_ ” Maki explained.

“Oh, right,” Kaede said out loud with a chuckle. “Okay, let’s text Kaito for real this time.”

It was as easy as copy and pasting her message from earlier, but the response was immediate. “ _Aw yeah, I’m up for that!_ ”

“Good to know his enthusiasm extends to his texting,” Kaede mumbled to herself before continuing the conversation. “ _So what was your idea?_ ”

“ _I was thinking we could go to the gym,_ ” Kaito explained. “ _There, Maki and I can help train you so you’ll blow Coach Dusk away next practice!_ ”

Even though she remembered Maki mentioning the gym earlier, she still felt a pit in her stomach knowing that it was a legitimate idea. “ _Are you sure about that?_ ” She asked, her anxiety flashing through everything that could go wrong at the gym.

“ _Of course I am!_ ” Before Kaede could send a reply, Kaito had already messaged her the address of the gym, adding, “ _We can be there in two hours. Don’t be late!_ ”

Well, the time to argue had passed, so there wasn’t really any other choice. After spending most of her time leading up to it psyching herself up, Kaede got herself dressed and set out for the gym. She didn’t really know what to expect, but the idea that she wasn’t going into it alone soothed her soul just a bit.

What really helped was when Kaito and Maki saw her approach outside the building, at which point the former greeted her with a boisterous wave and loud greeting while the latter gave the smallest wave she could get away with. With those small gestures, Kaede suddenly felt like she could actually hold her head up high in there!

Until she entered the changing room and saw all the other women inside. “Oh god, I don’t know if I can do this, Maki,” she whined, turning her gaze to her companion. “Look at all these women! They’re all in shape and small and _gorgeous_ and...oh man, I feel like I shouldn’t even be allowed in here.”

“Stop worrying so much or you’ll just bring more attention to yourself,” Maki said quickly. “Do you honestly think everyone here started this way? It takes hard work to look as fit as some of these women do.”

“I guess you’re right,” Kaede admitted. It was silly to think they were all naturally jacked, and she appreciated Maki’s frank way of putting it.

“Trust me,” Maki continued. “I know some of these people, and they didn’t look anything like this when they started coming here.”

Now that she’d said it, Kaede was starting to notice the other people in the changing room giving Maki small greetings as they passed. “Huh, you two have been coming here a long time, huh?”

Her answer came in the form of a silent nod. Suddenly, Maki stopped in front of a locker and fished a key out of her pocket. “This is where I put my stuff. We can share today since you don’t have your own.”

“Thanks, Maki,” Kaede said, taking a seat on the bench in front of the lockers and popping open the backpack she’d brought with her. “So, how much convincing did Kaito have to do to get you to come with? Or is this just conveniently part of your schedule?”

As she fished through her bag for her clothes, she couldn’t help but notice the other girl wasn’t responding. Comfy gym clothes in hand, Kaede set her bag aside and turned around to see nobody at all behind her, instead just an open locker. “...Maki?”

She only had a momentary panic before Maki was suddenly at her side again. “Is something the matter?” she asked as if nothing was wrong.

“Maki!” Kaede nearly jumped out of her skin, startled by her sudden reappearance. “Where did you go?”

“I was changing in one of the stalls,” Maki said, calling Kaede’s attention to her change of clothes. Her blood red outfit seemed like the standard fare with the midriff-baring shirt and the short, skin-tight shorts, but what caught Kaede’s attention was the fact that arm warmers were hugging each of her arms, running from her wrists to just past her elbows. Her legs were also covered with warmers running from her ankles to her kneecaps.

Just like with Kaito, Kaede was finding a lot to be confused about. “Wait, are you not allowed to change out here?”

Maki rolled her eyes and shifted her weight, putting her hand on her hip. “Of course you are. I just...changed in there.”

“A-are they judgmental here?” Kaede asked, her face heating up. “Maybe I should go in there too.”

“Oh my god, Kaede, you’re _fine_ ,” Maki sighed, exasperated. “You’re not the only one with body image issues, you know. Don’t worry about how I change and focus on yourself.” With that, Maki scurried out of the changing room, leaving Kaede with many questions.

Maki? Body image issues? How was that possible? She was so thin and fit! Kaede pushed the thoughts out of her mind and followed Maki’s example, changing in the stall. She found Kaito and Maki waiting near the exit of the changing rooms, where Maki seemed to be more focused on getting their workout started than talking.

Kaito lead the trio to a secluded part of the gym and laid out some mats. “First thing’s first, we should start with stretches. Once you get more flexible, we’ll be able to move on to the fun stuff.”

“Filed under things heard in porn,” Kaede mumbled to herself. Maki snorted and her hand shot to cover her mouth. Clearly she wasn’t expecting that sort of reaction.

“What was that?” Kaito asked. “I didn’t quite hear ya.”

“Oh, nothing,” Kaede said, clasping her hands behind her back and smiling at Kaito.

Kaito didn’t question it further and turned his attention to the task at hand. “Let’s start with sit-ups, yeah? All three of us will do as many as we can.”

“Sounds good,” Kaede said with a nod, getting on her back on the ground. She put her hands behind her head and started doing the motions, but quickly got distracted by the blur of flesh beside her. “Oh my god, Maki,” she gasped.

Maki didn’t respond, focusing solely on doing her sit-ups as fast as possible. “Pretty impressive, huh?” Kaito asked.

Kaede turned her head to the other side to see Kaito lying motionless on his back, hands behind his head. He seemed to be staring at the ceiling, mind anywhere but where his body was. “And what about you?” Kaede asked.

“I’m just psyching myself up for mine is all,” Kaito said nonchalantly.

She wasn’t fooled by that at all, but she decided to focus on her own progress. She was able to rack up about twenty sit-ups with ease, impressed by how easy they were coming to her, but then Maki stopped and took a look at her. “Kaede, how many are you at?”

“Twenty...one,” Kaede answered after completing a rep. “You?”

“Not important.” Maki shook her head and sat at Kaede’s feet. “Your form’s all off.”

“It...is?”

Maki put her hands on Kaede’s feet and held them down, leaning forward as she put her weight on that spot. “Your feet aren’t supposed to leave the ground. That’s where the workout part comes in. Here, try one now.”

With the added pressure on her feet, Kaede found the act of sitting up much more difficult. “Whoa,” she gasped once she brought herself up, which left her face uncomfortably close to Maki’s. “That got so much harder all of a sudden.”

“Also filed under things said in porn,” Maki said quickly.

Kaede fell back to the floor, laughter making her gut hurt more than her twenty-two sit-ups just had. “I didn’t expect that from you,” she said once she’d collected herself.

Maki was wearing a smug grin. “That makes us even, then. Now see how many you can do.”

Kaede nodded and started doing as she was told. This time, she didn’t keep track of the number of sit-ups she’d done, because she found herself distracted by Maki’s gaze the whole time. She was watching her closely, and Kaede could only assume she was analyzing her form or something that she wasn’t quite understanding. Regardless, she found herself focusing on Maki just as intently. Each time she sat up and found her face close to Maki’s, she could see the way her red eyes shone in the well-lit gym, and she couldn’t ignore the way her heart skipped a beat whenever she looked for too long.

So instead she focused on Maki’s lips, pursed in concentration and looking like…

Like she needed to look at something else to avoid conjuring up an inappropriate daydream. Instead, she looked at Maki’s small, rounded face and how it came to a kind of point at her chin. The way her hair framed her face only make it look rounder, and she had a single mole just under her left eye.

Before her mind could wander further, she laid on her back and was suddenly hit by the realization that she was in physical pain from doing sit-ups the correct way. “Oof,” she groaned, a hand resting on her rounded stomach.

“Now you feel the burn, don’t you?” Maki asked. “Right there in your gut?”

“Oh yeah, I do,” Kaede said, taking a few deep breaths. “How many did I get?”

“Fifteen,” Maki said. “Which, honestly, isn’t bad for the first time you’ve done that exercise correctly.”

Kaede sighed. “Not as many as I thought, but thanks.”

“You seemed to be thinking about something,” Maki said, still in place above Kaede’s feet.

Kaede could feel her face heat up and she tried to stutter out a response. Finally, she came up with, “Oh, er, I was just focusing really hard. You know, on sit-ups.” At this point, she’d noticed that not only was Maki still putting her weight on her feet, but she was also leaning further forward, her face now almost resting on Kaede’s knees. “What about you, Maki? You seem to be thinking about something yourself.”

Maki’s eyes went wide as she realized what she was doing. She quickly stood up straight and cleared her throat. “It’s nothing.” Kaede smiled at Maki playfully, but her gesture wasn’t seen because Maki’s gaze snapped to her side. “Kaito, wake up,” she said quickly.

“Wake up…?” Kaede looked to where Maki was looking to see Kaito, laying in the same sit-up position he was in earlier and seemingly fast asleep. In all honesty, Kaede was so focused on Maki that she didn’t even realize Kaito was still there.

Without uttering a word, Maki stuck her foot out and kicked Kaito. At first, she was gentle, but the longer he spent asleep, the more violent she got, until her foot was hovering dangerously over a certain area. “If you don’t want an axe kick to the dick, you’ll wake up, Kaito Momota.”

Suddenly, Kaito’s eyes snapped open, his pleasant smile replaced by a confused expression. “Wh-what? Did I doze off, there?”

“You sure did,” Kaede said as Maki planted her foot back on the ground. “Did you have sweet dreams?”

Kaito clapped his hands to his cheeks and shook his head. “Not important. Did you get nice and warmed up, Kaede?”

“You know it,” she said, flashing a thumb’s up.

“Then let’s get started for real!”

The rest of the day dragged on as Kaito and Maki taught Kaede the very basics. They didn’t make too much progress, all things considered, but by the time they were done, Kaede’s entire body was sore, which she was told was a good thing. She plodded back into the changing rooms behind Maki, who seemed lightly winded at worst. “Whew,” she sighed. “My body’s not happy with me right now.”

“It’ll be worse tomorrow, I promise,” Maki assured her. “But you did good today, Kaede.”

That was enough to perk her up. “You mean it?”

Maki nodded at her, making eye contact that sent shivers down Kaede’s spine. “You’re catching on much faster than Kaito did. I think you are cut out for this after all.”

Kaede could feel herself getting emotional. “Thanks, Maki. It means a lot to hear you say that.”

For the briefest instant, she could have sworn she saw a smile flash across Maki’s face, but before she could register it, Maki had turned around, stone-faced. “Don’t mention it. Seriously, I’m not into that sappy shit.”

After changing out of her workout clothes (in the stall, of course,) Kaede parted ways with the dynamic duo, who promised her they would be happy to help whenever she needed them. Once she was home, she practically melted onto the bed, drifting off to sleep faster than she ever had in recent memory.

On Monday, she regaled Shuichi with the story of her gym experience. At first, he was proud of her for even going to the gym in the first place, but as the story went on, he grew increasingly interested, and by the end he was wearing a smug grin. “What’s so funny?” Kaede asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Kaede Akamatsu...”

“ _What_? You know I get nervous when you use my full name!”

“Kaede, I say this as someone who’s known you for most of your life at this point...” Shuichi held a finger up dramatically. “You, my friend, are in love.”

Kaede was immediately blushing a deep red color. “Wh-what?”

Shuichi shook his head. “Did you hear yourself describe Maki’s facial features to me? Don’t deny it: you have it _bad_.”

Kaede shook her head vigorously. “I do not. I don’t know where you got this from, but it’s wrong.”

“Kaede, you should know by now not to lie someone who was raised by a detective.” Shuichi grasped the brim of his hat and moved it up slightly so he could see her eyes. “You’re like a lovesick puppy.”

Kaede crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks out in a pout. “Am not,” she whined.

“Be careful,” Shuichi warned her. “You may start sounding like a puppy, too.” After he was met with a glare, he shook his head and changed the subject. “So did you ask if I could tag along next time?”

Suddenly, the accusation was forgotten completely. “Oh, shit!” Kaede slapped her forehead. “I totally forgot to mention it!”

Shuichi laughed nervously. “Well, maybe it’s for the best. I don’t think I would do so well in a gym. It’s too...sweaty.”

“Says someone who wears all black,” Kaede teased. “I’ll ask next time. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about how much you want in Kaito’s pants.”

Now it was Shuichi’s turn to become a different shade of red. “K-Kaede, not so loud!”

“You deserved it,” she giggled. “Now we’re even!”

“I guess,” Shuichi mumbled.

That may have been the end of romantic talk, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t push Shuichi’s accusation out of her head. Sure, she may have gotten a bit distracted by Maki’s looks, but that didn’t mean she was in love or anything. Besides, even if she was, Ophelia seemed real serious about the “no relationships” rule. Still, would she _actually_ kick someone off the squad? She had said not enough people signed up for her to be able to afford it, so maybe she’d make one exception…

Except it didn’t matter because she wasn’t in love with Maki! “Geeze, stop thinking about this so much, Kaede,” she said to herself in between class periods later that day. “I have a million different things to be focusing on right now! I can’t add a relationship to the list of things I’m juggling.”

She jumped about a foot in the air when she heard a voice behind her. “Talking to ourselves now, are we?”

She screamed and whirled around to see Maki, arms crossed and weight resting on one foot. “Maki! My god, you scared me.”

Maki smirked. “I’m an expert at sneaking up on people. Among other things.”

“How much of what I was saying did you hear?” Kaede asked sheepishly, feeling a blush start to creep across her face.

“I didn’t actually hear what you were saying,” Maki explained. “I just heard you were talking and didn’t see anyone around, so I decided to poke fun.”

Kaede breathed a sigh of relief. “Heh, that’s fair.”

That was the end of that exchange, but it certainly taught Kaede a lesson about talking to herself too much.

A week passed, and instead of going to the gym with Kaito and Maki, Kaede ended up locking herself in her room all day studying. When the day was winding down, she got a text from Kaito asking if she was alright, and upon being told the situation, accepted her explanation without hesitation. “ _Hey, while I have you, can I ask you something?_ ” she asked while she had his attention.

Kaito’s response came quickly, as most of his texts did. “ _Sure thing, what’s on your mind?_ ”

For Shuichi. “ _Next time we go to the gym, can I bring my best friend as a plus-one?_ ”

Kaito seemed ecstatic. At least, as excited as he could over text. “ _Sure thing! The more the merrier, you know!_ ”

“ _Thanks!_ ” Kaede said. “ _I’ll be sure to bring him next time._ ”

“ _Next week?_ ”

“ _Next week!_ ”

Just like they promised, the group met in front of the gym the next Saturday, but this time Shuichi was accompanying them. When Kaito saw him, he broke out into a grin. “Oh, it’s Shuichi! I didn’t know you and Kaede were friends.”

Shuichi gave a nervous smile in return, his cheeks starting to turn pink. “Yeah, we’ve been friends for a long time.”

“I guess that kinda surprise is what I get when I don’t really talk to ya outside of the classes we have together,” Kaito said. His tone sounded kind of like he was going to say that no matter what the answer was.

“I suppose so,” Shuichi agreed, clearly pressed for things to say.

“Well, I’m lookin’ forward to workin’ out with the both of ya.” Kaito threw his bag over his shoulder and turned to enter the building. “I’ll show you to the changing rooms, Shuichi.”

Kaede put her hand on Shuichi’s shoulder. “Good luck.”

The boys and the girls went their separate ways to change, and on their way, Maki struck up conversation. “Your friend there looks like he’s never been inside a gym in his life.”

“I’d never been in a gym in my life before a couple weeks ago,” Kaede said. “What’s so surprising about that?”

“The fact that he doesn’t seem like the type to do things like this without having some reason for it.” Maki twirled a stray strand of her black hair around one finger. “So what’s his ulterior motive?”

Kaede was just a little blown away that Maki caught on so quick. “Wow, was it that obvious?”

“I could make a living off not trusting anyone,” Maki explained.

Kaede gulped. That sentence felt loaded in a way she didn’t want to ask about. “Right. Don’t tell Kaito, but Shuichi only signed up to tag along because he has a crush on him.”

Maki’s eyes widened. “Interesting.”

“Really?”

Maki nodded and opened the door to the changing room. The girls disappeared into different stalls to change, and as usual, Maki was back at the entrance well before Kaede was changed. She couldn’t help but notice the mysterious girl was wearing those leg and arm warmers again, but she didn’t ask about it. “Your friend chose a good way to get closer to Kaito,” Maki said, talking as if the conversation had never been interrupted.

“How so?” Kaede asked.

“Going to the gym is how Kaito got me to warm up to him,” she explained. “Getting to know someone by working out with them seems to be his favorite method of communication.”

Kaede laughed, remembering how he fell asleep the last time. “That’s fair, I suppose. What about you, Maki?”

Maki seemed confused. “What?”

“How do you like to get to know people?”

Maki shook her head and looked away. “I don’t,” she said quietly. “Usually.”

Very intriguing. Kaede hummed in thought as she mulled that over, but she couldn’t arrive to any conclusions before they met back up with Kaito and Shuichi, the latter of which seemed visibly shaken. “Shuichi?” she asked. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll tell you later,” he said quickly. “Shall we get started?”

“Excellent idea, Shuichi!” Kaito said. “Let’s start with warm ups. How about some push-ups this time?”

“Only if you actually do them,” Maki shot back, already getting into position.

The group of four started doing the exercise, and Kaede actually found herself keeping pace...with Kaito. Shuichi was lagging behind the both of them and, of course, Maki was doing them at practically the speed of sound.

“She’s just good at all of them, isn’t she?” Kaede laughed.

Kaito was noticeably more winded than her, taking deep breaths and panting between his words. “She sure is. Y’know, she’s been...doing this since she was a kiddo.”

“I wonder why,” Kaede wondered aloud.

If he wasn’t doing push-ups, he would have shrugged. “Beats the hell outta me.”

“And 50,” Maki said shooting back to her feet. “That should do for now. You guys let me know when you’re done.”

She started feeling around her pockets for her phone, but Kaede interrupted her. “Hey, Maki! Can you look at how I’m doing?” She asked in between push-ups. “I want to know if I’m doing this one right.”

Maki nodded and dropped to a crouch just in front of Kaede. “Your form looks fine to me. This exercise is more straightforward, so it’s harder to get wrong, for sure.”

Kaede opened her mouth to thank her, but before she could say anything, Shuichi and Kaito both collapsed on either side of her. “Whew, that really took it outta me!” Kaito declared, voice muffled by his face laying against the floor.

“Same...here,” Shuichi panted. “I didn’t get as many...whew, as you though.”

“Next time,” Kaito promised. Kaede decided to take this as her own chance to stop and moved to a sitting position.

“Alright, is it time to teach Kaede more stunts?” Maki asked, extending a hand to help Kaede to her feet.

Kaito jumped to a stand and put his hands proudly on his hips. “You betcha! Shuichi, if you’d like you can try some of these too.”

Shuichi shook his head. “No thanks. I think I’ll watch this one.”

Another productive day came from that, and by the end, Kaede definitely felt like she was getting the hang of it. She was also getting more confident in doing anything that required her hands or wrists. After some encouragement from Kaito and some light prodding from Maki, she had done several stunts that had her weight briefly put on her hands, and they didn’t seem to hurt that much. Still, when everyone wound down at the end of the day, the rest of her body was positively screeching at her to go home and stop moving at all costs. “Whew, I’m beat...again,” she said as she and Maki made their way to the changing room.

“You’ll get used to it,” Maki told her. “The first few sessions are the worst.”

What Kaito said earlier flashed through Kaede’s mind. “Yeah, about that. How long have you been doing this?”

Maki shrugged. “I don’t know how long exactly, but since I was a kid.”

Kaede was having a hard time imagining a child going to the gym every week. “Why?”

At that, Maki’s face hardened, and her face seemed to get colder. “I’d rather not say.”

“I...see.” Seeing the other girl look so serious, Kaede decided she would rather not pry.

They were silent until they met up with Kaito and Shuichi again back at the entrance to the gym. “Another good day of work, everyone,” Kaito said, giving high fives all around. “The first game we’ll be cheering at is this coming Friday, so we’ll be sure to blow Ophelia away with all the extra work we did!”

“I look forward to it,” Kaede said, flexing her arms and smiling warmly.

And so the group split up into their usual duos. Kaede sidled up to Shuichi on their walk back to Shuichi’s car and elbowed him in the side. “So what had you all flustered, huh?”

Shuichi’s blush came back in full force. “I...uh, had never seen so many naked men in one place before. It was...overwhelming.”

Kaede could feel a shiver down her spine. “I’m so sorry. Did you at least get to talk to Kaito some?”

Shuichi nodded, a small smile on his face. “Yeah. I still like him, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“You truly are into the dumb ones,” Kaede said quickly.

“Hey!”

Their playful banner lasted until they were most of the way back to Kaede’s house. “Hey, didn’t you have something to do tomorrow?” Shuichi asked, seemingly at random.

Kaede’s face scrunched up and she checked her phone. “I don’t...think so. Why do you bring it up?” Instead of answering, he waited for her to go through all her reminders. “I...oh shit, I do! I said I’d put on a show at the community center!”

“Ah, right,” Shuichi said with a nod. “Well, have fun with that.”

The car rolled to a stop in front of Kaede’s house and she scrambled to get all her stuff in her arms. “Thanks for reminding me, Shuichi. See you on Monday!” She scurried back inside, mind full of thoughts about what she was going to play the next day. “Clair de Lune, obviously,” she said to herself as she swung open her bedroom door and tossed her bag onto her bed. “But I should also throw some Beethoven in there. But which one...”

Her mind became consumed with thoughts of the piano, as was natural for her. She was mentally rehearsing and thinking over her song list right up until she was sat at the big, fancy piano at the local community center in the middle of her neighborhood. There weren’t many people there and most of them were on the older side, but all of them were interested in seeing the local prodigy flex her musical muscles. She had psyched herself up, and this was nowhere near big enough of a crowd to intimidate her, so the moment Kaede’s fingers touched the keys, she was lost in the beautiful music she was creating.

The world around her faded away until the end of her performance. She played her final note and took a stand, bowing to the modest crowd as they applauded her. “Thank you for coming to listen!”

At that, most of the onlookers dispersed to go back to their business, but three stayed behind. One of them was instantly recognizable to Kaede and the sight caused her to gasp. “Kaito? You’re here?”

“Heya!” He greeted, running up to her and shaking her hand. “My grandparents said they were coming here to listen to a piano performance, and I decided to tag along with ‘em. Imagine my surprise when we get here and I see my very own teammate playin’ the piano for the whole neighborhood!”

“Oh, it wasn’t the whole neighborhood.” Normally, Kaede would feel disingenuous in being modest like that, but it was a lot easier when Kaito was over exaggerating like that.

Kaito shrugged, hands on his hips. “Still, pretty impressive! I knew you liked the piano, but I didn’t know you were a professional.”

“I’m working my way there,” Kaede said. “See you tomorrow?”

“You bet!”

Kaede waved at Kaito and his friendly looking grandparents as they turned to leave. “What an odd place to run into him,” she said to herself.

If anything, that would probably give them something to talk about during the slower parts of practice.

The week flew by, and before anyone knew it, the cheerleaders’ first performance at a sports event was upon them. The gym was alive with activity, so the squad had a hard time finding a good place to congregate without getting in everyone’s way. “Alright squad,” Ophelia said once they were all together. “You’ve all learned everything you need to know for tonight, so knock ‘em dead. Remember, there’s no stakes so don’t beat yourselves up too much if you slip up.” After everyone gave confirmation, she continued, “But remember the proper form for your half-v!”

“Can you show us that one more time?” Kokichi asked, a large dufflebag slung over his shoulder.

Ophelia struck the half-v pose, two arms shooting diagonally to her left and one foot held off the ground. “Just like this, okay?”

Kokichi nodded sagely. “So dab on ‘em. Got it.”

Ophelia’s smile disappeared completely and she sighed, arms going back to her sides. “Go get dressed, everyone,” she said, all the energy completely gone from her voice.

The girls (and Kaito) did as they were told and sat on the sidelines of the game, where they were meant to be until the time for them to perform came. Kaede tried to watch the game, but ended up getting distracted by the fact that this was the first time she’d worn the uniform, and she actually didn’t hate how it looked on her. The skirt could have done to be just a touch longer, but otherwise she didn’t really have any complaints. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Kaito gently elbowing her in the side. “Are ya nervous?” He asked.

Kaede shook her head. “Nah, I’ve put on piano recitals in front of larger crowds than this, so I’m no stranger to that part.”

“Oh, so the community center was just a taste, huh?” He was trying to play it cool, but she could tell that he’d forgotten what they’d talked about just less than a week ago.

That was when it was time for a change in subject. “So...where’s Maki?” Kaede asked, looking at the lineup and noticing one head of preposterously long hair missing.

“She got called into work last minute,” Kaito said, going along with the new direction just as eagerly as he’d started the last one.

Kaede pursed her lips. “Huh. I wasn’t aware she had a job.”

Kaito shrugged. “She’s had it for a while. Sometimes she’ll just...not show up because they called her in. It seems most of it is last minute stuff, so I think she’s backfill or something.” He traced the ground in front of him with his fingers, drawing star shapes as he spoke. “It happens.”

“You don’t even know what her job is?” Kaede asked. “I feel like I would ask that right away.”

Kaito huffed indignantly. “Of course I’ve asked. She just wouldn’t tell me. Though, that was back when she wouldn’t even talk to me, so I wonder if she’d tell me now...”

That was the end of that train of thought, because that was when the mascot burst into the gym. Not only did the giant bear costume disrupt everything by running onto the court mid-game, but it also caused the crowd to gasp in confusion. This was not the nice, pleasant cartoon bear their school usually used as their mascot; it was a crudely crafted, poorly painted half black, half white teddy bear. The black half had a strange red mark in place of an eye, and the limbs flailed uselessly as Kokichi weaved in and out of the startled basketball players.

Kaito was dumbstruck. “What the fuck?”

“Kokichi Oma!” The voice echoed around the gym and caused everyone to fall silent. Ophelia stormed onto the court and grabbed the shoddy head off the homemade mascot. “What did I tell you about using your own costume?”

Kokichi’s tiny head looked incredibly silly in the oversized costume, and the shit-eating grin he gave Ophelia made him look even more cartoonish. “My trusty lackeys in my organization spent hard-earned time and money on this bad boy, so frankly it would be offensive _not_ to show it off.”

Ophelia wasn’t having any of it. She pointed a stern finger at the door to the gym. “Out. Kokichi, you’re off the squad. I don’t want to see your face near my cheer squad ever again.”

His jaw dropped indignantly. “Excuse me?”

“ _Out!_ ”

Dropping his arms to his side and hanging his head low, Kokichi plodded out of the gym. Ophelia watched his back intently and only stopped once the door was closed behind him. “Sorry about that everyone,” she said to the shocked crowd. “Won’t happen again. Please, continue your game!” She walked off the court, the hideous bear head still in hand, and the game slowly picked back up where it left off.

Kaito shook his head and laughed. “Well that was exciting.”

“Sure was,” Kaede agreed. “And now I don’t have to deal with Shuichi’s ex anymore, which is nice.”

“That’s how you know him?” Kaito asked. She felt like she’d told him this before, but it was likely he didn’t pay attention since he didn’t know Shuichi was her best friend yet. “I hate to tell ya this, Kaede, but your friend has poor taste in men.”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to say that if I were you,” she said. She didn’t intend to say that so loud, so when she realized she had, she quickly covered her mouth.

Kaito didn’t seem to get it though. “Why not?”

“No reason! Look, it’s almost time to perform!”

The squad’s performance that day went off without too much of a hitch, and Kaede could feel her confidence rising as she did her part. Despite what she told Kaito, she was a bit nervous about doing physical stunts in front of people, but the cheers she got when she flashed her peppy smile at the crowd were enough to help her warm up to the idea. When the girls (and Kaito) were finished, Ophelia pulled her to the side with stars in her eyes. “Kaede, that was incredible!” She said, throwing her hands in the air. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone improve so fast! What’s your secret? Have you been practicing away from practice?”

The praise brought a blush to Kaede’s face and a giggle out of her mouth. “Oh, you have Kaito and Maki to thank for that. They helped me get my bearings straight.”

“Excellent! I love it!” Ophelia was practically jumping for joy. “And I knew your enthusiasm would enthrall your audience! Look, they loved you and didn’t even notice the one time you slipped up!” The look of confusion on Kaede’s face must have been obvious, because Ophelia noticed it right away. “Oh, what I meant to say was...”

“I only slipped up once?” Kaede asked, eyes widening.

Ophelia was visibly relieved. “Yup! Just once!”

Now it was Kaede’s turn to jump for joy. “Alright! Whew, I thought I screwed up, like, everything.”

“You did great, Kaede,” Ophelia said, clapping her hand on the young girl’s shoulder.

They shared a quick hug, but before they went back onto the court, Kaede held a hand up. “Hey, while I have you. Um...you totally kicked Kokichi off the squad, didn’t you?”

Ophelia’s face fell, and from the way she nodded, Kaede could tell she was dead serious. “I did. I have no time for people who disrespect me and my rules like that.”

“I see...” Kaede nodded along slowly. “But I thought you didn’t have the wiggle room to just...let people go.”

Ophelia shook her head. “I couldn’t afford to turn anyone away at tryouts. That doesn’t mean I won’t kick out the troublemakers.”

“Good to know,” Kaede said. “I’ll keep that in mind in case I feel like breaking your rules.”

She said it in a joking tone, but Ophelia’s stern “good” told her that the coach was not one to joke around about that.

It sure was a good thing Kaede hadn’t done anything potential rule-breaking, like, for instance...developing feelings for anyone else on the squad.

She hadn’t...right?

Kaede had put that rule out of her head entirely, and she certainly wasn’t thinking about it the next morning when Maki’s name lighting up her phone screen nearly sent her heart racing. Oddly enough, it was Maki approaching her about working out instead of the other way around, so Kaede didn’t know quite how to process it.

Aside from immediately replying that she’d love to, that is. Upon Maki’s suggestion, she sent Shuichi a text asking if he would like to join them, but he didn’t respond. Usually, that meant he was tied up in something his uncle sprung on him last minute, so she took his silence as a no and rushed to the gym to spend more time with her new friends.

While she was doing that, her childhood friend was meticulously trying to find something else to focus on besides what his uncle was telling him about. “Hey, can you pay attention?”

Shuichi shook his head, pretending to be knocked out of his daydream, when in reality he heard every word he was being told. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I just don’t understand why you want me to help you with this case.”

His uncle sighed, arms crossed over his chest. “Being honest, I didn’t want to bring you in, but I’ve been stumped by recurring cases just like this for about a month or so now, and I feel like I need a new pair of eyes on this one.”

“Do they really need to be my eyes?” Shuichi asked, holding back a Kaede-esque whine.

The only response he got was a half-hearted, “Sorry, Shuichi.”

The two were interrupted by the door to the office opening, and Shuichi turned to see a woman who couldn’t have been much older than him march into the office. Her long purple hair trailed behind her and her eyes gazed at his uncle intensely. “Hello, Mister Saihara,” she said curtly before turning her terrifying gaze to Shuichi. “Is this your nephew you’ve told me so much about?”

Shuichi’s uncle nodded. “Sure is. The very same Shuichi who helped me solve a murder case nearly a decade ago.”

Just the mention of the incident brought flashbacks of the perpetrator’s angry expression straight to the forefront of Shuichi’s mind. He gripped the brim of his hat tight and pulled it down over his face, nearly trembling at the thought. “Nice to meet you,” he said to the woman quickly.

“Shuichi, you may have heard of my partner for this case,” his uncle explained in an attempt to squash the awkward silence. “Kyoko Kirigiri went to Hope’s Peak as the—“

“Ultimate Detective, yeah I’ve heard of her,” Shuichi finished.

Kyoko smirked. “I see my reputation precedes me. And I’ll be honest, Shuichi, yours does too. The only reason I agreed to let your uncle onto this case was because I hoped he might bring you in.”

“Wow, thanks,” Shuichi’s uncle said with a laugh. “No, but really. I don’t usually do murders, so I figured that was the reason.”

Oh, so this case was a murder? Great. Shuichi was growing more uncomfortable by the second. “Can we just get moving so I can go home?”

“I don’t want to be here any more than you do,” Kyoko said matter-of-factly. “So yes, let’s get started.”

The three piled into a car and Kyoko started driving. During the ride, Shuichi felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, but decided to ignore it. He knew that, now that he was actually involved in this, he would have to focus on the task at hand so he could get home faster, so any distractions would have to wait.

The car came to a halt in front of an alleyway that was marked off with bright yellow police tape. Shuichi hauled himself out of the car and ducked under the tape to find a grotesque scene that further convinced him he’d never get used to the sight of dead bodies. “Ugh...”

“This one’s downright clean compared to some crime scenes I’ve had to see,” Kyoko told him. “In fact, that’s one of our clues today.” She knelt down next to the victim, a middle-aged bespectacled man who was sitting peacefully against the wall; the only sign of anything amiss being the neat slice in his neck and the blood stains on his shirt from that wound. “This murder was pulled off so quickly, it has to be the same culprit as the other crime scenes your uncle has been to.”

“So basically, we’re dealing with a serial killer,” Shuichi’s uncle provided. “My favorite, really.”

Kyoko pursed her lips in thought as she pat down the body for evidence. “That’s the part that’s tripping the police up, I think.”

“What do you mean?” Shuichi asked.

“To be fair, the police have every right to think they’re dealing with a serial killer. Crime scenes almost exactly like this have been cropping up periodically over the past several years. Each and every one has a neat, single-stroke wound, and aside from that, the bodies are almost spotless. These bodies are far too consistent to _not_ be connected.”

“So you think multiple people are doing it?” Shuichi’s uncle asked.

Kyoko shook her head. “No, I think it’s the same culprit. I just don’t think it’s a serial killer.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Shuichi said.

However, he had the same realization Kyoko was explaining as she said it. “I think it does make sense. Yes, the crime scenes are all similar in those respects, but there’s no apparent rhyme or reason to any of it. Serial killers like Genocide Jack, the Zodiac, or even Jack the Ripper had patterns. Victims, methods of killing, calling cards, take your pick. I think the police are trying too hard to find such a pattern, when really these bodies are only similar on the surface. I think these are all the same killer, but I don’t think they were doing it for fun.”

Shuichi stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Almost like they had to do it...”

Kyoko was doing the same thing. “Precisely. Serial killers are sick, twisted, and do it for fun. I’m willing to bet that this culprit took no joy in this crime.”

“Which also doesn’t make any sense,” Shuichi said.

“That’s why I wanted you to come along,” Kyoko explained. “With your help, hopefully we can find a missing piece to bring this all together.”

Shuichi nodded. “Right.”

“So shall we take a look at the crime scene?”

Reluctantly, Shuichi started looking around, grabbing his phone out of his pocket to use as a flashlight while he examined the area. While they searched, his uncle started asking Kyoko questions. “What can you tell us about the victim?”

“He was a small business owner,” Kyoko explained. “He runs a small coffee shop in the suburbs. Unless someone got really mad about a messed-up order, I doubt his death has any relevance to that.”

Shuichi had looked everywhere except the body by this point, and was doing his best to keep it that way. “We should ask around there. Maybe someone who lives nearby can tell us if he had any enemies.”

Kyoko nodded. “That was next on my list, but I wanted to start with the crime scene. Care to actually look at the body?”

“Ugh...”

Upon further inspection, Shuichi’s eyes immediately landed on a new piece of evidence, but he decided to save it for last, hoping Kyoko would find it before he brought it up and therefore take the credit. “The only wound to speak of is the slit throat,” he said, hand shakily hovering over the area. “Unless...” He took a hold of the body and leaned the victim forward so he could get a look at the wall directly behind him. “Nope, no signs of a wound on his back or the wall.”

“Do you think he got murdered so he fell perfectly in a sitting position against the wall?” His uncle posited. “Doesn’t sound likely.”

Shuichi shook his head. “It’s not. He was set up like this, almost like it was to keep everything neat and tidy. However, if he did have a wound on his back, the blood would have seeped through his shirt. Furthermore, we can rule out the culprit cleaning a wound on the back, because why would they go to the trouble if they leave the slit throat as is?”

Kyoko nodded along sagely. “Very well put. But so far we haven’t come to a conclusion I haven’t on my own.”

“Maybe that’s your sign I wasn’t cut out for this,” Shuichi said. “Surely you can prove that without a doubt by pointing out the biggest clue here.”

The older woman gave him a puzzled look. “Excuse me?”

“You mean you…?” Shuichi sighed and reached for the item in question, which was resting peacefully against the man’s leg. “There’s a hair here.”

Kyoko held a gloved hand up to her mouth, which was hanging open in awe. “Y-you found a hair? I didn’t even see anything like it.”

Shuichi could feel a blush coming on. “You probably just assumed the killer wouldn’t leave anything like this behind. Want to put it in a bag or something so we can get it tested...Or whatever you do with them?”

With a smirk, Kyoko grabbed a plastic bag from her pocket. “Sure thing.”

“I’d say that’s pretty damning evidence,” Shuichi’s uncle said, crossing his arms and looking around. “Is this case going to get wrapped up?”

“Not necessarily,” Kyoko explained. “It’s completely likely that this hair doesn’t belong to someone who has had a DNA sample taken by any doctors connected to the government. And if it is, there’s no guarantee it’s the killer. This hair could belong to this man’s significant other, child, sibling, take your pick.”

“But if we do get a hit, we know where to start searching either way,” Shuichi continued. “You can ask whoever it belongs to what they know about him, if he had any enemies, etcetera.”

“Exactly.” Kyoko spun on her heels and started walking out of the alley. “Now let’s go take a look at his coffee shop.”

Shuichi groaned, not at all happy with the way this day was going so far. He finally took a look at his phone on the way to the car and saw Kaede’s message. “ _Ah, sorry I didn’t see this in time,_ ” he responded. “ _I hope you had fun if you went._ ”

After tapping send, he pocketed his phone again, fully expecting Kaede not to respond right away.

Which she couldn’t, as she was wrapped up in training with Kaito and Maki. Well, her and Maki were training; Kaito was telling Maki the story of the basketball game while they did.

“You shoulda seen the look on his face, Maki Roll,” he said with a laugh. “I honestly don’t think he expected Ophelia to have it in her.”

“I could have told you she does,” Maki said, breathing affected by her exercises. “I figured she made herself rather clear.”

Kaede tumbled to stop in front of Kaito. After taking a brief moment to catch her breath, she said, “Kokichi’s always been one to push the boundary on what he can and can’t do. He always gets upset when it backfires too, but like...what did you expect, you know?”’

“I’ve met a couple people like that,” Maki said in the distance.

She mumbled something else, but Kaede didn’t catch it. “And then, when you call him out on it, he just says ‘oh, it was all a lie’ or whatever. I don’t get him.”

“Well, he’s in the past now,” Kaito said, jumping to his feet. “Now, we look forward into the future to see what it has in store for us!”

Maki also came to a stop, right behind Kaede. “You know what I’d like to see in the future?” She asked, much less short of breath. “Kaito doing his exercises. Hop to it.”

Kaito shrugged her remark off. “Alright, let’s get to it.”

He started getting ready, and Kaede followed his lead, but before she could get too far, Maki put a hand on her shoulder. “Not you, Kaede. I think we earned our rest.”

Kaito was caught off guard by this. “What? Oh, no fair,” he whined as Kaede flashed him a cheeky grin and Maki gave him a smug smirk.

As he got to work, the girls sat together by the wall, water bottles in hand. “I’m getting better aren’t I?” Kaede asked.

“You are,” Maki said. “I’m truly impressed. I haven’t seen many people get the hang of it as fast as you have.”

After taking a swig of water, Kaede changed the subject. “So, Kaito said you have a job?”

Suddenly, the air around Maki got cold, and Kaede could see her expression and the way she held herself change completely. “Yeah, I guess you could say that,” she said.

Kaede noticed the change in atmosphere, and it gave her the distinct feeling she shouldn’t pry, but she did it anyway. “May I ask what you do?”

Maki was silent for a moment, glowering into the distance coldly. “No.”

“That’s fair.”

After a silent moment, Maki sighed. “I...guess you could say I’m an on-call freelancer.”

That only confused Kaede more. On-call freelancer? Wasn’t that a fancy title for people with highly skilled jobs? Instead of asking the what or why, Kaede went a different route. “How well does it pay?”

“Well enough,” Maki said curtly.

Kaede was starting to feel like this was a conversation she’d had with Kaito before. “Do you like it?”

Maki hesitated. “Do I...no. Not one bit.”

“Wha—“

“That’s all I’m going to say. Now drop it.”

“Alright, alright,” Kaede conceded. “Well, maybe once you become a professional cheerleader you can break out of the career you don’t like as much.”

“Once I...what?” This effectively snapped Maki out of her steely gaze.

“You do plan on doing this professionally, right?” Kaede asked, tracing the waves on her water bottle’s label.

Maki seemed to be at a loss for words. “I can’t say I’ve ever considered it.”

"I think you should," Kaede told her. "It could be fun! You clearly have a talent for the physical aspect."

Maki didn't look convinced. "Yeah, but professionals are typically expected to be more...emotive. I couldn't do that."

"True…" Kaede put her finger to her chin and hummed in thought. "Well if that's the case, you could always become an Olympian!"

That one caught Maki off guard completely. "What?"

"Yeah, you heard me," Kaede said, giggling at her confusion. "You're an awesome athlete, so I bet you'd clean up shop at the Olympics. And hey, that means you don't have to smile so much!"

Maki was silent, but her face gave away the fact that her mind was running a hundred miles an hour. "An Olympian…"

"Although," Kaede added. "I wouldn't complain if I got to see your smile just a little more often."

"Oh yeah?"

She didn't think she was being listened to anymore, so she blushed and tried to stammer out a response. "O-oh, uh...no pressure of course! You don't have to do anything you don't want to, I just, uh…"

"I think I can spare a smile or two more for you, Kaede," Maki said softly. The girls' eyes met and they exchanged a warm smile that made Kaede's heart skip a beat.

If she'd known Maki's heart did the same thing, that would have been it then and there, but it wasn't going to be quite that easy.

Soon, Kaito had decided that he was done for the day, so the trio headed toward the locker rooms to change and go home. That was when Kaede finally looked at her phone and saw the message Shuichi had sent her. “Looks like Shuichi had something come up,” she said out loud, more to herself than anything.

Maki appeared next to her, somehow already back in her normal clothes. “Shame.”

Kaede flinched back, just holding in a scream. “I’ll never get used to how fast you change.”

Maki shrugged. “I’m not too fast, you’re just slow.”

Kaede responded by playfully sticking out her tongue before turning her attention back to her phone. “ _No worries! I’ll tell Kaito you said hi._ ”

Shuichi had just enough time to send his thanks before the car he was in rolled to a stop in front of the dinky little coffee shop owned by the murder victim. “Alright, this is it,” Kyoko said, putting the car in park. “Let’s take a look around.”

“Maybe we should split up from here,” Shuichi’s uncle suggested. “One of us can look inside the store while two others ask around for any information.”

“I like that idea,” Kyoko said. “I volunteer to look for any of our victim’s acquaintances.

Shuichi took a step toward the door to the cafe. “I’ll stay here and look around.”

“I’ll stay with Shuichi,” his uncle said.

Kyoko narrowed her eyes at the older man. “I thought you said two people can ask around.”

“I changed my mind.” The response was enough to get Kyoko to roll her eyes and storm off.

Shuichi peered inside the coffee shop, making sure the building was empty before stepping inside. His uncle made a beeline for behind the counter and started fiddling with a machine. “I wonder if any of these work,” he wondered aloud.

Shuichi sighed, his hand absentmindedly tracing a table near the entrance. “I should have known you were just going to make yourself coffee.”

“Don’t call me out like that.”

Instead of responding, he opted to start looking around like he said he would. He didn’t think he’d find anything in the area meant for customers to sit and drink their coffee, but he gave it a once-over just in case. After finding a whole lot of nothing, he slipped behind the counter with his uncle, wincing at the sound of the machine being used. “Is this really the best time?” He asked. “You shouldn’t be using a dead man’s coffee machine while you’re investigating his murder.”

His uncle took a sip from a steaming cup. “Then it’s a good thing you’re doing all the investigating, huh?”

Shuichi shook his head and started rummaging around. The other side of the counter had a lot of cups, lids, and supplies, but nothing he could use as a clue. However, it didn’t take long for his gaze to land on the door labeled “OFFICE” tucked away in the corner. “That’s probably the best place to look,” he said under his breath. He swung the door open to find a pristine office with a big desk, a filing cabinet, and a one-way window looking out toward the rest of the cafe. Nothing was left out on the desk and everything else was exactly where it needed to be.

So obviously, this set off several red flags. Shuichi sat at the desk and started looking through the attached drawers. He found a lot of papers with business jargon printed all over them, some hastily handwritten reminders stashed inside the doors, and one or two employee records. “Strange...” Suddenly, the door to the office burst back open, startling Shuichi to his feet. Kyoko marched in and made a beeline for the filing cabinet. “Kyoko...you scared me. What’s the hurry?”

“I think I have a lead,” she explained as she dug through the contents of the cabinet. “One of the victim’s friends said he may have took out a pretty hefty loan to be able to open this place and keep it in business, so I’m going to need you to help me look for any evidence of a loan like that.”

“Are you saying he was killed by an overzealous loan shark?” Shuichi asked, getting to his assigned task regardless.

“I wouldn’t say overzealous,” Kyoko said. “Some of these people like to send warnings, and if they don’t get a payment after a certain amount of time they resort to drastic measures. He might have had a severely overdue payment or something.”

As she spoke, the pieces were starting to come together in Shuichi’s mind. He plucked one of the handwritten notes from inside a drawer and sighed, reading the unimportant reminder scrawled on it. “I think you can stop looking, Kyoko.”

Kyoko slammed the cabinet door shut and snapped her attention to Shuichi, her long purple hair making the movement look more dramatic than it needed to in the process. “Did you find something?”

“Well, no, but that’s just it.” Shuichi stuck the note to the top of the desk and tapped it twice. “See, when I came in, it was spotless in here. Everything was exactly where it was supposed to be, except for these little sticky notes. They’re just...reminders of dates and events and stuff, but isn’t it strange that they were hidden in the drawers instead of where they could easily be seen?”

Kyoko’s eyes went wide as the realization was dawning on her. “What are you saying, Shuichi?”

“I think you know what I’m saying,” he said. “I think the killer came through here and took any documents that may point to whoever gave him that loan.”

Kyoko snapped her fingers. “Damn it. That leaves us with absolutely no leads.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Shuichi said with a shrug. “The killer could have left fingerprints in here, and that hair we found is still a factor, so I wouldn’t say we have _nothing_ to go on.”

Kyoko took a deep breath. “Right. I won’t hold my breath on either of those, but we’re not hopeless yet. Thanks, Shuichi.”

“So that’s all we can do today, isn’t it?” he asked.

“I suppose it is,” Kyoko said. “We’ll have to send the hair in for testing and ask someone to come through here to dust for prints.”

“Can I go home, then?”

Kyoko laughed and shook her head. “Fine, we can disperse for now. Go home and rest. You did good work today, Shuichi.”

“Thanks, Kyoko. I assume you’ll let my uncle know about any developments?”

Kyoko didn’t respond, instead turning to leave the room. Deciding to take that as a yes, Shuichi brought himself to his feet and followed her. He spent the rest of that day and the next resting and thinking about how he would tell the story to Kaede on Monday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter was Maki's birthday, and this one is my own. c: But the more exciting news is that I've recently finished this story! Now I'm guaranteed not to leave this one hanging because all I have to do is edit it and post it. Still gonna stick to bi-weekly chapters, though, because the final word count is...well, high. Let's just say we haven't even reached the halfway point yet. See ya next time!


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